Way things could have been (revised)
by ArmySFC
Summary: What could have happened if Chuck's past was just a little bit different and he wasn't the shy innocent nerd everyone thought he was. It's a revised version so if think you saw it before, well you did. Very Chara friendly so enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I'm currently deployed to Afghanistan so I decided to get back into reading FF. I was reading Chuck fics over the last few months and noticed that several writers were re-doing some of their work. So I decided to look over mine and boy was I shocked. I noticed some very large mistakes, and how shallow some of it was. So while this is not a new story, it is improved. If you read the original and enjoyed it, you should like this even better. Thanks for reading.**

Summer 2005

In the back room of a local pub six men were seated around a large green felt covered table, most often seen in casinos. The difference here was there is no mega lighting or glamorous décor, just a single light hanging above the table, and concrete wall that held framed pictures of famous local sports figures. Several men were smoking the finest Cuban cigars their ill-gotten gains could acquire. The smoke from them rose slowly upwards bearing a slight resemblance to ivy searching for a new place to grab and climb up on. Except for the dealer, the eyes of each man sitting at the table scanned the other men's faces looking for any small sign of their _tell_, which could help them figure out the others next move. The only sound in the room was the unmistakable voice of Frank Sinatra's _My Way_. Not another sound could be heard as the men continued their high stakes game of cat and mouse.

Josh Miller, a small time arms dealer, was seated closest to the dealer. He was not the biggest fish in the sea by any means, but the connections he did have were staggering. Josh had connections to one of the world's largest and most powerful arms dealers, Alexi Volkoff. He would buy weapons from Volkoff and sell them either on the streets or to the local Mafia. Josh took one last look at his opposition then snuck peak at his hole card. He took a long look at the large pile of chips, hesitated for a moment, then tossed in a stack of black chips.

"Mr. Miller raises 100," stated the dealer.

The next person in line is Connor MacArthur. Connor is the head of a terrorist cell for the IRA and master mind of one of the worst bombings in Northern Ireland. His goal today was securing more weapons and ammunition for his cause. Up until now he had been bluffing, but when his last raise of 50 was doubled, he deciding that discretion was the better part valor, he tosses his cards down folding his hand and leaves the table.

The next two men also fold. Tom and Harry Jones are middle level drug runners from Miami.

There now stand only one man in the way of Miller and his winning the hand. Tony Waytt, hit man for hire and general trouble shooter currently in the employment of Josh. Tony takes a long look over at his boss, the last obstacle to his winning the 1.5 million currently sitting on the table. He notices a very slight twitch above Josh's left eye, his tell. Pretending to give the other man a chance he exhales and shrugs his shoulders, giving off the air of defeat. He then pushes the same size stack into the center of the table adding it to the pot. He gets up and moves from the table, and with a resigned voice says,

"I call Josh, wadda ya have?"

"Trip tens," Miller replies as he flips his hole card.

Waytt cocks his head to the left and lets a small smirk cross his lips, "Todays not your day boss, flush" as Tony turns the last card over. His reveal shows five diamonds.

"Son of a bitch!"

"Told ya boss not your day. Now down to business, when can I expect my winnings to be wired to my account?"

Several minutes later Tony's phone sounds an alert letting him know that his money was deposited and tucked safely in his account. After verifying that it was all there, he took a look at his balance; his total was now just over 5 million. _Not a bad little gig I got going here!_

"Waytt, word on the street has it my boss is looking for a good man. He's been following your work for a while now and he's impressed. Don't get me wrong, I don't to lose you but when the boss wants something he gets it. I have no intention of crossing Volkoff that would be hazardous to my health."

"That sounds good to me Mr. Miller. So when and where will I meet my new boss?" queried Tony.

"You'll fly to London and meet her there. She's the bosses second in command and goes by the name of…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(a few hours earlier across town)

"Bryce, I really don't think this is a good idea. I keep telling you we need to tell Graham, not going off halfcocked like this."

"Look," Bryce sighs "Sarah…it's low risk. I thought I recognized this guy when I saw him the other day in the bar we were watching, so I sent his description to the analysts at Langley. They identified him as Josh Miller. While you were sleeping I did some checking around and he's going to be playing poker with some of his business associates later today."

Sarah just sighs and says with resignation, "Let me see what you have."

Bryce pulls a folder from his carry bag and lays it on the table. He slides a couple of pictures across the table and says, "This is the guy we want, Josh Miller. He's a small time arms dealer but he's supposed to have connections to a real bad dude, Alexi Volkoff. If we can nab him and get to Volkoff, it would be a boost to our careers."

"Between us, the NSA and the ATF, we've been after him forever. If we grab him and manage to get to Volkoff maybe this won't be so bad after all. But I'm warning you, if this goes south, I'll kick your ass for dragging me along. Understand?"

"It's gonna be a piece of cake, that's why I want to do this. Do you know what it will do for our reps when we bring this guy in?"

"You're right about the push it would give us, but what about the rest of men he is playing poker with. How do they fit into all this?"

"Two of the guys are drug runners. Tom and Harry Jones are brothers that work out of Miami. Not really our concern. We can turn them over to the DEA and let them handle it. Show some interagency collaboration. The next guy, Connor MacArthur is a terrorist with the IRA. Again not our concern, we can toss him to the FBI. The last guy is the one we need to be careful of." Bryce slides the last picture across the table.

"Tony Waytt, He's Miller's muscle. Under no circumstance underestimate him. From the information Langley sent me, he's killed most of Miller's competition off. If you get the chance, shoot him, don't kill him though. He's worked for a few people we can use information on."

"Fine by me. So when do we make our move?"

"The game is supposed to start in a few hours so we'll go in about 4 hours. They should be in the middle of playing by then."

"Sounds good, let's grab some food before its go time." Sarah arose room her chair and made her way to the small kitchenette to garb some food.

Several hours later the pair dressed in black BDU's and wearing baklava's to hide their faces entered the small bar where the poker game was taking place. Bryce and Sarah waived their guns in the air and fired off a few rounds to get the patrons attention.

"Everyone get out, NOW!" shouted Bryce. The five or so men sitting at the bar had no trouble following that order. They knew what type of things went on this neighborhood and were not about to involved with the goings on of the local mob. At the same time Bryce was barking orders Sarah was taking care of the 2 men that were guarding the door. Two quick shots from her tranq gun found their mark and both guards were in lala land. She quickly holstered her tranq gun and pulled out her normal colt. Seconds later they crashed into the room.

(Time lines catch up here)

"_You'll fly to London and meet her there. She's the bosses second in command and goes by the name of…_suddenly shots rang out from the bar area. The men that were still seated jumped to their feet sending the chairs they were sitting on crashing against the wall. In spite of the noise around him Tony caught the name just as the door came crashing in on them.

Bryce wasted no time in taking on the two men closest to the door; Tom and Harry were the first to go down from a flurry of kicks and punches. Sarah came rushing in right behind Bryce went for the first target available, Tony. Tony noticed the pistol being raised and took two quick steps towards Sarah and slightly off to her side. This small change in direction caused Sarah to adjust her aim to get a clean shot. Tony used that extra time to lash out with his left hand. It connected solidly with her wrist knocking the gun away. Sarah adjusted smartly to the loss of her weapon and went into her combat stance, preparing for hand to hand combat. During her time at the farm she was one of the best at hand to hand.

Tony only had one personal rule, he had to see the face of the person he defeated before he either killed them or knocked them out. He needed to know without a doubt the person was his intended target. He knew he was a killer, but no innocents had been killed by his hand. After a barrage of punches and kicks had been thrown by both combatants, Tony made his move to end the fight. Feinting with his left hand he got Sarah to drop her guard just enough to land a shot to her stomach. She only buckled for a second but it was enough of a delay for Tony to grab her baklava and rip it off her head. As soon as he saw her face he froze.

_Sarah Walker CIA, SHIT what the fuck is the CIA doing here?_ _That must be her partner. This just went to hell in a hand basket._ As the final part of his thought finished he heard a shot ring out, and then felt a blinding flash of pain in his right shoulder and then nothing.

Once Waytt went down, the others that were still standing lost the desire to resist and surrendered. Bryce called the proper authorities and a cleanup team to secure the area and take care of the prisoners. Tony was taken to a secure hospital under heavy guard to have his shoulder worked on. When the minor details were taken care of, Bryce put the call in to Director Graham.

"Graham secure."

"Larkin Secure, Walker and I just apprehended Josh Miller and Connor MacArthur. We also have two minor players that we turned over to the DEA."

"Very good work Larkin and Walker. From you're last report you sent in, the mission you are currently on is at a standstill?"

"That's correct Sir. Do you have any more intel that will help us out?"

"We have no more information at this time. In light of today's events why don't you and Walker head back here and take some time off. You can fill me in then on what happened and how you put the plan together. I'll see you both in a few days."

"Told you it was all gonna work out," Bryce said with a smug look on his face. Sarah never noticed the look on Bryce's face because she was deep in thought. She was replaying the fight with Waytt over again in her head. She had opponents in the same position she was in just before Bryce shot Waytt. He should have landed the final blow; it's what she would have done. Yet this cold blooded killer hesitated for just a second when he saw her face. It was if he recognized her from somewhere. She almost believed something else was going on and when they got back there would be hell to pay.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: . I intend to keep time moving in a forward in a linear manner, but things may be changed in the past. Ellie may not have met Devon, or Chuck meeting Bryce, that kind of thing. The only BETA I have is word 2010 so if the . , : seem out of place, blame Microsoft, lol. Thanks to all of you who reviewed so far.**

Chapter 2

**The next day**

Mr. Smith pulled into the parking lot of the CIA friendly hospital Waytt had been taken to hoping to get some time to question one of the most deadly hit men he had ever come across. Locating the reception desk and flashing his FBI badge he asked for the room number Waytt had been recovering in. After getting the information he needed, he made his way to the prisoner's room. The two large and heavily armed guards stationed in front of Wyatt's room allowed his entrance after checking his credentials. Entering the room he finds Waytt resting comfortably on his bed, his television tuned in to Animal Planet.

"Getting soft there Waytt? I hoped we wouldn't have had the displeasure of meeting again. But alas we meet again," stated Smith.

"You knew we would. It was only a matter of time before you caught my sorry ass. And no I'm not going soft. I'm still the cold ass killer you met before. There's nothing but crap on the regular channels." answered Waytt with a cynical laugh.

"Cut the crap Waytt. If you help us out we may be able to work a deal, so what can you tell me about Miller?"

"Not so fast Agent Smith," Smith could almost see the distain dripping of Wyatt's tongue, "What's in it for me?"

"When your trial for murder comes up the FBI will express its deepest gratitude for your help."

"Oh joy! I get seven life sentences instead of ten whoopee! You're going to have to do better than that."

"That's the best I can do, my hands are tied."

"No mine are." replied Waytt shaking his hand that was cuffed to the bed. "If you want any information from me you had better make it a really good offer."

"Let's cut to the chase, what will it take for you to roll on Miller?"

"One, I go to one of your country club prisons." Waytt said holding up one finger. "Not one of your dark, damp and dreary ones. Two," another finger, "I'll be good and won't raise hell while I'm there, not that I can. Three," the third finger goes up, "once I testify against Miller however all bets are off. Just be aware I have friends in very low places."

"You killed ten men, there's no way they go for that. Give me something I can work with for the love of Pete!"

"Bull shit! I did you boys a favor and you know it. I saved you time, effort and money taking out those men. Your people couldn't find their way out of paper bag that was open on 2 sides. Hell, three of them the FBI has been after for years and couldn't find them. Besides, from what the doc's tell me it's gonna be six to eight months before I'm back to one hundred percent. There's no way in hell I'll be able to cause trouble. That Smith is a take it or leave it deal," Waytt said with a smug look on his face.

"It's not going to be easy but give me thirty minutes to run it by some people and I'll let you know." When he finished talking Smith turned and left the room. Not quite thirty minutes later Smith returned.

"They agreed to your deal. You'll meet with the DA tomorrow to get it writing. So what can you tell me about Miller?"

"He has quite a few people your people would love to get their hands on starting with…" For the next couple of hours Waytt told Smith everything he knew about Miller and his business partners. But his closing statement was the one that really caused Smith to stand up and take notice "He has a pipeline to Alexi Volkoff. Just before those CIA agents busted up our little game, he told me I was going to meet Volkoff's number two. That's all I got."

"That's a lot more than we had before. One last thing before I go, you'll be transferred tonight. When they come to get you don't give them too much trouble."

"Hello, bad wing here," Waytt said holding up his damaged arm to prove his point. "I'm not going to be flying the coup anytime soon. Besides I gave you my word I would play nice till the trial. As much as I have enjoyed our little chat, I'm tired so get your ass out of here." As Smith was leaving the room a small smile crossed his normally stoic features, _well played Waytt. That should keep the boys in the FBI off your ass for a while. Now to put the fear of God into the CIA pukes that fucked this all up._

**2 days after the operation. **

**Graham's office**

As Sarah Walker and Bryce Larkin made the long walk down the hall to Director Graham's office, they were stopped on more than a few occasions by other Agents wanting to give them props for the large bust they had just help make. Sarah, as was her custom, politely shook their hands and moved on. Bryce on the other hand was eating up the praise like a dog attacking a tasty bone. Sarah would swear she saw his head beginning to swell the further down the hall they got. Sarah was dressed in a dark blue skirt and matching jacket with a white top. Bryce was dressed in a three piece charcoal Armani suit, and light blue shirt. They knocked on the door and waited for the call to enter. Several seconds later the call of enter came and they went into the Directors office.

"Take a seat Agents," said Graham as he motioned to the chairs in front of his desk. After waiting for them to take a seat he continued, "Give me the short version of the mission. I can get the details from your report later on."

Over the next 10 minutes or so Bryce went over the mission just hitting the high points. When Bryce finished with his briefing, Graham stood up from his desk and walked around to stand next to his two agents. After looking at his agents for a few seconds, he shook his head and headed to the door. While he was opening it, he turned to face his two agents and said, "Walk with me." He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt they would follow.

The small group headed to one of the most secure briefing rooms the CIA has in its headquarters. It was one of the very few cleared for top secret video conferencing. When they had all entered the room, Graham made sure the doors were locked and the sign turned on over the outside of the door that said "Conference in session." After locking the doors he took his seat across from his agents. They were seated at a large oak table that ran the length of the room. At the far end of the table was the large monitor used for the video portion of the briefings that were held there. Shortly after they were seated the monitor came to life and several images appeared. The face on the left was the President; the face on the right was hidden by a mask. The President began speaking.

"I'm here for one reason and one reason only. To tell you that what Mr. Smith says is the truth. Not a word will be said of this meeting after you leave this room. The results if you do will be…unpleasant. Mr. Smith you have the floor." The President's face vanished from the screen.

"Director Graham, Agent Larkin and Agent Walker, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mr. Smith, head of the most clandestine section of the CIA, the Sentinels. I brought you here for a very important reason. I have a few questions for you about your last mission. That is if you don't mind?"

"No Sir" was the response from the persons in question.

"Good. Who would like to tell me who authorized the mission you conducted the other day? And secondly why you failed to report in to your boss, that you were going to do this unauthorized mission?"

"Sir, the idea was mine," Bryce replied "I got Intel that a person of interest was going to be at the location playing poker. I had a friend at Langley send me the information, made the plan and Agent Walker and I carried it out." Bryce was seeing a big promotion in his and Sarah's future.

"Agent Walker you went along with it?" questioned Mr. Smith.

"Yes Sir, but not until I expressed my doubts on conducting a mission without checking in first. Bryce was the AIC so I deferred to him on the matter. It was a sound plan and went off without a hitch."

"Director, is this information the same as you filed in your report to the DNI?"

"Yes Sir it is. I was very pleased at the job my agents did on that mission. I'd let them do the same thing again. We got some valuable Intel that will aide us in getting closer to Volkoff."

"CLOSER," boomed Mr. Smith slamming his fist hard against the desk. "I'll tell you what your agents did. I had a man on the inside; he just got word that he was going to meet with Volkoff's number two next week. His...number...two!" each word said louder driving home the point. "Your people just screwed up eight months of undercover work from my best agent."

The three people sitting at the table felt the color begin to drain from their faces. The situation that just moments before seemed promising was quickly circling the drain.

"He was working that op for over eight months. We may have been able to salvage the mission if you had merely captured him. Did you? Oh no, Larkin the fame seeking wonder boy had to go and SHOOT his ass."

"Sir," Agent Walker loudly interrupted, "He was going to kill me! Bryce stopped him from that."

"Agent Walker, if he wanted to kill you he would have. He was getting ready to, that's why he pulled your balaclava off. He needs to see his victims face before takes them down. He may be a cold school killer, but that man has never taken an innocent persons life. When he saw your face he knew you were with the CIA. Graham, do you understand what havoc your agents caused?"

"Yes Sir I do." It had been a long time since Langston Graham had been dressed down like this. Two of his best agents had royally screwed the pooch. All he had left to wonder was how bad the fall out was going to be.

"Glad we understand each other. You have protocols for these things; this is just one of the reasons. Had you forwarded your idea for approval, my people would know. We could have stopped it. My agent will now have to figure another way to get to Volkoff."

"Sir, if I may?" Bryce spoke up for the first time. Seeing the small nod from Mr. Smith he continued on, "They never saw my face, I could break Miller out of detainment and get in with him that way. After a while I can bring Walker in as my girlfriend. We can go after Volkoff together."

"Larkin, give me some time to think about it…. NO! I read your files after the fiasco you two caused. I know your type Larkin. You'd hang Walker out to dry so fast her head would spin if it got you props or saved your ass. I require team players, not over grown little kids who want to make a name for themselves. My people are the best, period. The agent you shot could walk up to Walker tomorrow, ask her out on a date, take her to dinner and she would never know it was him. He's that good. Listen up Graham and listen real well. This is what's going to happen. Starting today Walker and Larkin are on analyst duty for six months, you're relieved from duty for one month. Any questions?"

"Sir, six months is a long time to have my agents out of the game." Graham hoped he could talk some sense into Smith.

"Your agents blew eight months of undercover work; put my agent out of action for at least six months and you're complaining? You must be frigging nuts, just be glad I didn't pull their field agent status and sit them behind a desk until they quit or retired. You three get your sorry asses out of here, I'm done with you." And the screen went blank.

**Echo Park**

Ellie Bartowski was sitting on the couch after finishing her lunch. She was enjoying a few minutes of blissful silence that she rarely enjoyed at work. _Life in a hospital can be rough_, she thought. She relaxed into the couch letting her thoughts drift to how well things in life were going right now. She had a great boyfriend in Devon and a great job. Chuck was doing fantastic compared to when he was younger. He was a handful back then, running away once when he was 16. After a near death experience while he was on the run he straightened out. He put his nose to the grind stone his last years of high school, getting his grades up to where he got a full ride to Stanford. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, moved to Houston to work with NASA and finally opened a small engineering company just outside of Austin. Yep, her life was good. As she was drifting off to sleep, the sound of The Yellow Rose of Texas came from her phone alerting Ellie that her brother Chuck was calling.

"Chuck, glad you called it' been a while."

"Sorry El, it's been crazy here the last couple months."

"I hear you on that. It's been crazy here as well. Tell me, how did that big install you told me about go?"

"Not so good. We were almost done when some complications came up and the buyer decided to pull out. I got paid for the work already completed. The good news is when he gets solvent again he said he'd give me a call."

"Sorry to hear that. I know you were working very hard on that last job. At least they said they would call you back and paid you for it."

"There is that I supposed. I did get some contacts for more work out of the deal. I have news I think you'll like."

"You got yourself a girlfriend!" Ellie exclaimed happily.

"No girlfriend El, at least not yet," Chuck said with a laugh. "With the money from the last job I have enough to expand. I'm think I'm going to open a new office somewhere near…I don't know…Echo Park?" Chuck knowing what his sister's reaction would be held his phone away from his ear.

"You're coming home," Ellie practically screamed into the phone. "When will you get here?"

"Not for a month or so. I need to finish a few things up before I leave. I need you to do me favor as well. Look for a place I can to buy and renovate to use as my West Coast headquarters. Also I'll be sending a courier with my computers that go in my office. You know exactly what I need."

"I'll take care of it. When you get here you'll stay with me until you find a place to live. I won't take no for an answer."

"Alright El, you got yourself a deal. Besides I miss your cooking, Devon's shakes I can do without, but I miss a good home cooked meal. Listen I gotta run. I have a meeting in a few minutes. Talk to you later, love you."

"Love you to Chuck and I'll see you soon."

As soon as she hung up the phone Ellie did a happy dance around the living room. He little brother was coming home again, maybe this time for good. A sudden thought brought her out of her euphoric state. She need to let people know. Turning on the special laptop Chuck had built for her she got to work, letting the important people know he was coming home.

Yep, for Ellie Bartowski life was good. Very good indeed!


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thanks to all who reviewed. Same disclaimers as always.**

Chapter 3

**1997 Gaza Strip**

A young man in his mid-teens ran through the streets at an incredible pace. He had a message to deliver and no amount of honking, yelling, swerving cars or donkey pulled carts was going to keep him from delivering it. His long dark hair and tanned skin helped him blend in for the first couple weeks he was here. The mess he found himself in began a few minutes earlier. He was doing fine on his quest to find his mom until he slipped up while talking to a vendor and complained about a bombing that Hamas claimed responsibility for. The vendor began screaming and pointing at him, claiming he was an Israeli spy. Dodging a beat up car that look like it should be in a junk yard somewhere and not on the street, he spotted an alley that ran between the narrow houses and ducked inside. Breathing hard, he flattened himself against the wall the best he could and watched as the angry vendor and a few close friends passed by the alley. Stepping away from the wall he continued his trek down the alley. Just as he was about to exit the alley a large hand grabbed his shoulder and another covered his mouth. He was pulled inside an arched doorway. He stared up at the man holding him, refusing to look away from the cold dark eyes that were staring back at him.

"You move with speed, agility and stealth young man. You have quickness and brains as well. I must warn you, you are not welcome here. Don't worry. I will not harm you…yet," the man said his voice laced with an Israeli accent. "Tell me boy, what brings you here?"

"I came here to visit my mom but I got lost. When I arrived where she was supposed to be she had left. I'm trying to find her. I need to get her out of here. I got this message, I don't understand most of it, but I have to get it to her."

"You tell me what it is and perhaps I can help you?" the innocence of youth the Israeli thought. "You can tell me or not. I can kill you whether you do or don't. Either way your mother never gets the message."

The boy pondered his options for a few minutes, and then told the man his message. "Sadik Fahad is planning to do something bad in Jerusalem. There is going to be a statement made against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. I don't know what it is but my mom is supposed to be going there for business. Please I need to warn her."

"Sadik Fahad, you say? What is your name boy?"

Remembering the advice from his dad, lie till they catch you, he replied, "Waytt, Waytt Earp."

"Come Waytt, we must leave now. I will help you but we must hurry. You can call me Mr. David."

They both left the alley and hurried through the narrow streets. When they had traveled several blocks, the man and boy jumped in a car and drove off. Waytt had no idea where they were headed or how long they had been driving. The only thing he knew was when they arrived at the gates of a large compound, the man he was with received all kinds of respect. Days later Waytt found out that the information he gave to Mr. David, saved countless lives in Jerusalem. That was all it took for a young boy far from home to make a decision that would forever change his life. He would dedicate his life to helping people, no matter what the cost. When they tried to send him home, he argued that they owed him for all the lives he saved. He won. He stayed in the compound and underwent the most demanding physical and mental training he ever had in his short life. He soon adapted to the life there and was soon taking part in the most advanced training they had to offer. Waytt had to dig deep within himself and what he found gave him the extra drive to exceed at whatever they threw his way. After his months of serious training were over and he was preparing to leave, Mr. David called him over and had on final thing to say, "From this time forward you will be known to us as Ghost. Welcome to Mossad."

He would return to his second home each year to continue his training or do some missions for them. At first his parents and sister were upset but they accepted his choice to make the world a safer place.

**September 2005**

The day Chuck had been waiting for almost three years for had finally arrived. He pulled his Mustang into the parking spot reserved for his sister's guests. He leaned over grabbed his travel bag from the passenger seat and made his way to the front door of his sister's apartment. He wasn't even at the fountain before he heard the squeal of happiness erupt from Ellie and saw her door fly open. It only took a couple steps for her to reach him and he found himself embraced in a bone crushing hug. Devon followed right behind Ellie and hugged Chuck with far less force than his sister used.

"Damn Chuck, you're looking good. Have you been hitting the gym like I told you?" asked Devon.

"Ehh, I try to go a couple times a week. Sometimes I get so busy I can't go every day."

"Well don't just stand there, get your ass in gear and into the house. Dinner is almost ready and you stink. Take a shower before dinner, Devon and I may have missed you but we would rather just see you than smell you as well." Ellie commanded as she headed for the door to the apartment.

"Come on Bro, you don't want to piss the queen off on your first day back." Devon quipped with a small amount of amusement in his voice.

"You got that right Devon," answered Chuck.

Once the dinner was finished and the dishes washed and put away, the three of them sat in the living room and began to converse. The rest of the night was spent going over the fun times they had in the past. When it was time to turn in for the night Ellie pulled Chuck off to the side. "Chuck, Morgan has been asking about you. When do you plan on calling him?"

"I plan on waiting a few days, until I get settled. We haven't been as close as we used to be since last year."

"You only told me bits and pieces of what happened. Level with me Chuck. Was it bad enough to warrant throwing away a friendship you had since you were little?"

"El, I'm not to blame for this," Chuck said with a sigh. He took a deep breath to steady himself and began to explain, "About a year ago, right after the company took off, I was looking to increase my staff. I advertised in all the usual places, in the newspaper, on the internet. Wherever I could I placed an ad. Morgan saw one of the ads and applied for a job. I didn't hire him because he wasn't qualified for any of the positions and he got pissed off. El, he doesn't have the qualifications for any of the positions. If word ever got out that I passed over others that were more qualified for him, it could have ruined my business before it really got going."

"I see your point."

"I just wish he did. It will probably get worse when he finds out I'm opening an office here. What makes it worse is I offered to pay for his schooling so I could hire him. He went on his normal rant about us being brothers and life partners. I finally told him to shut up. After that day he stopped taking calls or answering my e-mails."

"Chuck, I know you. I know what you can do and what type of man you are, well most the time." Ellie added with a chuckle. "If he doesn't come to you, you'll just have to go to him. He still works at the Buy More. In a couple days when you get settled in the apartment, go see him."

"Thanks El, I really need that," he pulled Ellie into a warm hug. "Thanks again for finding me the apartment. I'm glad I'll be so close. We have a lot of lost time to make up for."

"Yeah we do. It was funny how Mr. Jones got that transfer out of state right after you decide to come back?" She looked at Chuck and raised her eyebrow.

"I guess so El," Chuck replied and shrugged his shoulders. "Night El."

"You to Chuck." They made their way to their respective bedrooms.

**CIA Headquarters**

Walker was sitting at her desk pouring over the insane amount paperwork and data that was in front of her. She learned two things from her partners FUBAR. First was never do a rogue operation. Get it approved first, and then do the mission. Second was to never, ever make fun of the analysts again. She had new found respect for the people behind the scenes. It wasn't until she was literally in their shoes did she understand how import they were to her missions. She found a tiny bit of information buried in a pile of paperwork. Before she would have thought that tiny piece of information was meaningless, but by passing that information on to the team's handlers, they got the last piece of information on the person they were after. It saved their lives and earned her a commendation for her record.

Larkin was a different story. He was doing the minimum required work, but planning his rise to glory at the same time. He started picking up bits of information on a group called Fulcrum. He didn't have many details yet, but from the information he did have, they seemed to be very big threat to the government. He started making his plans to go under cover and infiltrate this group called Fulcrum. He would first have to convince Graham to let him go undercover into the rogue group to bring them down. Once inside he could request Sarah's help. If he could bring down Fulcrum, he could reclaim his status as Graham's Golden Boy. He knew in a few more months he could put his plan into motion.

The two agents that were going over the files on their desks never noticed the Director approach.

"Agent Walker, you have a visitor in the lobby. He asked me to personally escort you to him," stated Graham.

Sarah grabbed her purse and followed Graham as he escorted her down to the lobby. As they were approaching the lobby Sarah noticed a tall man dressed in Navy summer whites. Above the rows of medals on the left side of his jacket was a pair of gold aviator wings. As they moved closer to him she noticed his eyes, they were same shade of blue as the sea on a clear day. Director Graham was the first to speak.

"Agent Sarah Walker, Captain Harmon Rabb. I'll leave you two alone now." Graham spun on his heels and headed off to a meeting in another part of the headquarters.

"Agent Walker, very nice to meet you," he said holding out his hand. "I have a message for you from a friend."

"Please Captain, call me Sarah." as she reached out to shake his hand. "What's the message?"

"Since he got shot, my friend's been watching you. He asked me to pass this along to you. Watch your back Sarah. Larkin's poking his nose in where it doesn't belong. He's going to get you killed if you follow another one of his plans. Have a good day Agent Walker." With that he turned to leave.

"Captain wait! Why should I believe you?"

"It's your life Walker, do what you want with it." With that he exited the building and faded from her view.

A little shocked with what she had just been told; she headed back to her desk. On the way to the elevator she was stopped by Marie, one of the regular analysts.

"Agent Walker, was that Naval Officer your boyfriend? He's great looking."

"No Marie, he's not my boyfriend. His name was Captain Rabb and he had a message for me."

Marie cocked her head and a puzzled look crossed her face. "It couldn't have been Captain Rabb; he's Force Judge Advocate Europe, in London. I know him from when he worked here. That man Agent Walker, was not Captain Rabb."

"Thank you Marie, I have to tell the Director we may have a security breech." Sarah bolted down the hall towards the elevator to head up to Graham's office when she stopped suddenly as a thought entered her mind. It was if she had been struck by lightning, or so she thought. The memory that popped into her head so fast was from Mr. Smith. She remembered what he said as clear as the day she heard it. _The agent you shot could walk up to Walker tomorrow, ask her out and take her to dinner and she would never know. He's that good._ In a daze she made her way back to her desk and let the events of the day run through her mind.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN1: Same disclaimers as before. Thanks to all of you who reviewed. If you have likes or dislikes let me know. I can't fix what I don't know is broke! Thanks again. BTW the review button is at the bottom, I like your input and any ideas will be welcome.**

**AN2: I know you guys have been waiting patiently for our two heroes' to meet and its coming. For those of worried about angst well don't. I can't and won't write it. The show gave us enough of that thank you very much.**

**October 2005 **

**Echo Park**

A little over a week ago Chuck completed moving into his apartment across the courtyard from his sister and boyfriend. He was eternally grateful to Ellie for helping him in decorating his apartment. He knew he could barely pick out his clothes without making a mess of it. So the disaster that would have been his apartment…well it wouldn't have been pretty. Before he moved in, Chuck converted the spare bedroom into his gaming room slash office. On the one wall he had his large 52 inch HDTV that was attached of course to his gaming system. Along another wall were a black leather couch and several end tables. The center piece of the room was his hand crafted mahogany desk and high backed office chair. Chuck's desktop computer of his own design was sitting in the middle of the desk. The rest of the apartment was painted in masculine colors, while the souvenirs from his trips were placed in various spots around the apartment. He had just sat down on the couch in the living room to relax when the door swung open and Ellie came in.

"Ellie, haven't you learned to knock?"

"Knock? Why? It's not like you have a girl in here or anything," that part was said with a frown. "Chuck, you need to find a girl."

"Tell me something I don't know." He said with a sigh. "There is one girl, I only met her a few times while I was back east on business, but she seemed nice. A little high strung, but nice."

"Here's what you're going to do," Ellie started off. "The next time you see her ask her out. It's really not that hard."

"El, you know how I get around women. The communication network between my brain and mouth ceases to function. Unless it's for business."

"Ok, that point goes to you. Go for something simple then, like a cup of coffee. Once you break the ice, you'll be fine. So where does she work?"

"She works in another part of the CIA building I do business in so we've seen each other a few times in passing. I don't think noticed me however. I promise El I'll give it a shot the next time I see her. Now that the personal stuff is out of the way, _for today at least Chuck thought. _ Can we go and see how my office building is coming along?"

Chuck led Ellie by the hand as they made their way through the courtyard towards his car. A short drive later they arrived at the new company offices of the ISA (Intelligence Support Associates) West. From the outside it appeared to be a normal building to anyone that passed by. But it was far from ordinary. There were no windows or doors on the first floor. The entire face of the building was done in white decorative stone. In contrast the second and third floors were almost all windows, the blue/silver style in use on many newer buildings. What couldn't be seen behind the stone face was the foundation was actually extended outward by three feet. Behind the decorative stone face were two and a half feet of re-enforced concrete, four inch steel plating and two inches of lead. The entrance to the building was on the second floor. They ascended the stairs and made their way into the building. Once inside Chuck stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what the workers had gotten done in the small amount of time they had been working on it.

The transformation form empty warehouse to office building was startling. On the perimeter walls were the entrances to the supervisor's offices. The walls between the office doors were decorated with copies of arts greatest masters, Van Gogh, Monet, Degas and Renoir. The main floor area of the original warehouse was converted into the main work area. The typical office cubicles were installed except in the exact center of the floor. Here walls were built instead to surround the large break and dining area. Chuck felt this design would allow his employees privacy from the people that were still working and keep the noise from the break room away from those same people. The cubicles were another thing all together. They were not the normal beige colored ones found in regular office buildings. These were done in blues, yellows, greens and reds. When you looked down the aisles that separated the cubicles you could almost picture the colored blocks you played with as a child.

"El, this is great! I'm stunned. You did a great job on this. Thank you so much!" Chuck pulled Ellie into a hug.

"Chuck, it wasn't me," she said with a chuckle pulling away from Chuck. "It was Devon. He called a few friends of his from UCLA. One is an architect and the other owns an interior design company. His friends designed this and found the contractors to do the work."

"Remind me to thank Devon, and send his friends a gift of my appreciation. Now that I've seen the offices, let's go see my war room."

One of the things Chuck insisted on was a secure elevator that required a pass code and key card to use. It connected the second floor to the first floor and could only be used by a select group of people. Chuck was even more impressed by the war room than the offices. The work area appeared to be only only half the size as the work area on the upper floors. This was because of two very good reasons. The first reason was the number of people working here was smaller, and the unseen second half was the training areas and medical bay. In the war room they used the same design concept as the office floors. The offices were located on two of the outer walls. If you were standing at what would be considered the back of the room, the offices were on the left and right hand sides. The front wall was home to a massive network of monitors that would be used to display data as well as live video feeds. The back wall, if could be called that, was the server room. The largest server network ever built was located inside the specially designed cooling room. In the center of the room ten computer work stations were residing. These work stations would be used by the agents during the planning and operational phases of missions. To say Chuck was impressed would be an understatement.

"So Chuck, does it meet your exacting standards?"

"It'll do El," laughed Chuck. "Now that the construction is finished I need to get the offices staffed."

"So tell me little brother how do you intend to fill all the positions."

"To start I'm going to bring some of my staff from the war room in Austin, for the third floor I plan to run ads again and get qualified people that haven't had a job in a while to fill those positions, and finally poach a few people from the three letter agencies that owe me favors to fill the position on the second floor and in the war room."

"Sounds like a solid plan. When do intend to do your poaching?"

"I need to make a few calls to the people that owe me favors then I can fly back east. A few days should give them enough time to get the transfer paperwork done."

"Once you get done your poaching, stop by and see that girl that seems to have caught your eye and make your move."

"If I promise to do that will you let the matter drop?" asked Chuck.

"I will for the time being. But I want a full report on how it went before you get back. Understand?" Ellie said while poking Chuck in the chest.

"Yes Ellie I understand. Now let me make these calls so we can go to lunch."

**A few Days later CIA Headquarters**

**Director's office**

Graham was sitting at his desk wondering who the hell he pissed off. He just received an e-mail from Mr. Smith, the same one that chewed his ass a few months back, telling him, not asking him, that a job offer was going to be made to Agent Walker. She was going to be asked if she wanted to be partnered with a member of the Sentinels, the elite under cover unit of the CIA. He had just found out about them during his chewing out. He did some checking around and very few people knew that they even existed. No one knew who they were or where they were located. They just existed, like air. You can't see it, with no wind you can't feel it, but you know it's there. He knew that if she accepted the job offer, she would no longer answer to him. One of his brightest agents was being taken away and all he could do was hope she said no. With a sigh he began making preparations for her departure. The final line of the email worried him the most. _Do not inform Agent Larkin about the offer being made to Agent Walker._

**Sarah's cubicle**

"Man, this sucks," Complained Bryce. "I can't wait for the next few weeks to get over. I'm tired of pushing papers. I need a mission," Bryce continued to whine as he pushed some papers around his desk.

"Bryce it's not that bad. These people do a lot of things we didn't even know about. So cut out your whining and do some work."

"I have a plan for when we get out of this place and back in the field. I've been keeping track of a group called…"

"Called what Bryce?" questioned the Director. Again he had managed to sneak up on them while they were talking. "Walker, follow me."

Getting a questioning glace from Bryce and giving him a shrug in response, Sarah left her desk and went with Graham. He opened the door for her and she once again entered the secure room they had received their dressing down in a few months ago. She heard the door shut and turned to see that Graham had not entered the room with her. Seated at the head of the table was a man in his middle fifties, slightly greying hair and a thin build.

"Good afternoon Agent Walker, please take a seat," as he pointed to one of the chairs.

"Hello Sir, good afternoon to you as well."

"Let me introduce myself and explain why you are here. I'm Mr. Smith; we spoke a couple of months ago under less than pleasant circumstances." A nod of acknowledgement came from Sarah and he continued. "I'm here on behalf of one of my Agents with a proposition for you. Keep in mind that whatever we discuss in here stays in here, is that understood Agent Walker?"

"Yes Sir, perfectly."

"The world as you know is in a state of chaos. It's our job to keep this great country safe. I'm the head of a group of special agents, the best in their fields. They are known as the Sentinels. They generally work alone and the only contact they have is between me and my staff. We are a small group, but have a tremendous effect on what happens around us." Smith gets up and walks over to Sarah and places a sealed file on her desk.

"Before I tell you more I have a few important questions for you. We work in conjunction with all the members of the intelligence community. If you take this position we are offering you, will this be a problem?"

"No Sir it won't."

"The agent you will be working for and possibly with has a very strict no seduction policy. Now he does expect you to flirt with the mark if it is need, but under no circumstances will he stand for his female agents sleeping with a mark. He feels so strongly about it that if it happens you will be relieved from his team immediately. Will this be a problem for you?"

"No problem at all," Sarah felt like a boulder had just been lifted off her shoulders. The one aspect of her job she could never come to terms with was the need to sleep with a mark. Now she had her way out and if she liked the rest of what Smith had to say she was going to take the assignment.

"The other big difference between my agent and what you were taught is my agent allows and encourages his people to date and have relationships. He doesn't give a damn who it's with either. He also knows the CIA has some crazy saying that agents don't fall in love. We know that's a bunch of crap. They spout some nonsense about your romantic partner being used against you. Is that correct?"

"That and they claim it makes us less effective," Sarah replied.

"You have been working as an analyst for a few months now. Tell me Agent Walker, who has more information that could hurt this country? Who has more information to offer? Is it the field agent working on one big profile case or an analyst that has the information on that one, plus as many as twenty other operations at a time? The enemy if they wanted to could snatch one of them at any time or their family at any time, yet they can marry and have kids. To the Sentinels that lame excuse is plain old nuts. Does this also sound ok to you?"

"Yes Sir it does."

"Looking over your file, I see you've avoided dating in the past, just to remind you again in this program we don't care who you date, as long as they're not our enemy. Remember Romeo and Juliette died."

"I'll keep them in mind if the subject ever comes up."

"Before I read you in on what will be required from you and provide the information on the Agent you will be working for, do you want this assignment."

"I would like to give this offer a try. But I want to be able to leave if I find out in the future it is not for me."

"Sarah, we are not a conscript organization. We have had a number of agents on our books from different agencies that work with our people for a while and then return to their old employers," growled Smith. "You will be free to return to the CIA anytime you like. On the flip side of that, the CIA can't pull you back for any reason. The decision to stay or go is and always will be in your hands."

"Let's get me read in, Sir," Sarah was now beginning to smile a bit as she relaxed.

"You can now look in the file in front of you. It's as much information you are going to get for now on your new boss. When he feels the time is right he will reveal himself to you. When he does, keep in mind that he has never been seen by anyone who knows who he really is but me. He needs to work that way to be as effective as he can be. Please take some time and look over the file. The file will stay here when you leave."

She picked up the plain manila folder that looked to hold about 5 sheets of paper and looked at it.

"Well there is not much here so it shouldn't take me too long to go over it."

Sarah opened the file before her and began to go over the information. The normal accolades were there of course. He was an expert in several forms of martial arts including Krav Maga. She noted with some satisfaction that despite being an expert with most weapons, he was rather weak when it came to the use of knives. There wasn't a lot about his past missions, just comments that he always excelled and completed them successfully. The one thing that caught her eye was the fact he never went to the farm. Instead he was trained by Mossad, his code name, Ghost. _Wait, that can't be right. He was just a myth, someone the instructors made up to impress the trainees. Sure there were rumors at the farm about the Ghost, but nobody could find anything on him. What the hell did I just get into? _When she finished she addressed Smith.

"When do I need to report in?"

"A man is here with all the information you will need. Finish clearing up what you have on your desk. He will pick you up in the lobby when your shift is over. Please leave the file on the table, you're dismissed."

"Thank you Mr. Smith. Have a good day." She rose from her chair and exited the room with all kinds of thoughts running around in her head. For the first time in a while she felt the excitement of a new adventure pulling at her. She was almost tingling with excitement.

Sarah made her way back to her desk, still not quite sure of what to make of what had just taken place. She was now going to be working with a member of the Sentinels. They were the elite covert operations force within the CIA. She was thrilled at that, but couldn't help but wonder where she would end up. _I'll probably end up in some backwoods country devoid of any type of amenities. I've been there before so it's gonna be ok, I hope._

She didn't even get a chance to sit down before Bryce was all over her.

"We'll what did Graham want?" questioned Bryce. "You were gone for a pretty long time. Did he say when we are getting back in the field?"

"No Bryce he didn't. I have a new assignment that starts in a few days. I will be leaving today after I wrap things up here. You will have to finish out your time here I suppose." She began putting her papers into the correct folders. After all she had learned she didn't want the next person to fix her mess.

"What do you mean you? We're partners for heaven's sake!"

"We stopped being partners when you got me benched. For the life of me I still can't figure out why I listened to you in the first place."

"We went over that a hundred times already, you agreed to it! It wasn't my fault." Bryce's voice was now starting to draw attention.

"That was a mistake I will never make again. Do yourself a favor Bryce, grow up and play by the rules. It will be better for you in the long run. I need to leave; my contact is waiting for me in the lobby."

"What about us? How will I find you between missions?"

"Bryce there is no us. What we have or had was fun but would never lead anywhere. We both know that. Just let it go Bryce."

"This is bull shit! I'm going to talk to Graham convince him to let me join you." Bryce left his desk and headed to Grahams office.

_Good luck with that she thought. Well time to go. All in all it wasn't too bad here._ She made her way out of the area she had called home for the last few months stopping on her way to say goodbye to several analysts she had been friendly with. Getting on the elevator for what she hoped would be the last time for a while she hit the L button ready to start a new and hopefully exciting part of her life.

The lobby was surprisingly empty for the time of day it was. Most of the people she noticed milling around she had seen before. One man, however, stood out from the rest. He was tall, with a muscular build. His medium length brown hair was combed to one side, and he had the nicest brown eyes she had ever seen. She had to stifle a laugh as she took in how he was dressed. He was wearing a pair of well-worn chucks, faded jeans and a tee shirt that had a goofy looking furry animal on it. _He must be here for one on the analysts she thought._ She continued to scan the lobby looking for her contact. The man she had been checking out began walking towards her with his hand held out.

"Agent Walker," he said giving her his patented Bartowski grin as he extended his hand. "I'm here to pick you up. I'm Chuck Bartowski, but please call me Chuck."

As soon as their hands touched they both felt feel a warm sensation spread throughout their bodies. It was if, for the first time in their lives, they knew what it was to truly be alive. She gazed up into his deep brown eyes and saw a sense of peace in them. It was something she had lost a long time ago while working cons with her father. Without letting go of his hand, as if she was afraid to lose the warmth she felt, she replied, "Nice to meet you Chuck, please call me Sarah."


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: same disclaimers. Thanks to all that reviewed. Enjoy.**

Chapter 5

They exited CIA headquarters and made their way to the parking. Chuck started to fill Sarah in on some of her duties.

"The first thing you need to know is we won't use you your agency affiliation in your title. If anyone asks who you work for, tell them Intelligence Support Associates, or ISA for short. The company is legitimate by the way. I started it right after I graduated Stanford while I was working for NASA. We sell high tech security systems and network security programs to the largest companies in the world, as well the government."

"So it's not just a front for the intelligence community? You actually make living off it?" Sarah asked with just a hint of surprise in her voice.

"Yes and no Sarah," Chuck answered. "For all intents and purposes it is a front as you called it, but in the last year I moved into the Forbes top one hundred businesses. So I do ok I suppose." This was said with a shrug. "Money doesn't really concern me right now. I mostly hire out of work qualified people that need a break to get back on their feet. They know however, if they screw up they are gone. I want to help people but I won't be taken advantage of either."

"I'm impressed Chuck but I have to ask. If you have all this going for you, why get involved with the intelligence community at all?"

"Sorry Sarah I can't answer that yet. Most of what I need to tell you will have to wait until we get to ISA headquarters. What I can tell you is this, I already put in the paperwork to have your clearance elevated, the person you will be working with has been following your career for a while now and requested you by name, and lastly you have a month to report in. We will arrange to have your stuff shipped out, that includes your car, or you can elect to drive. That's up to you."

They had been walking for a few minutes as they talked, until Sarah finally saw her car. She pointed to a black Porsche just a few parking spaces away.

"Well that's me. When will you be able to give me a call with the final details?"

"I'll ring you later tonight with the all the information you'll need. All I need is your phone number, the encrypted one of course."

"Ok, here's my number," she said as she pulled a small scrap of paper out of her purse and wrote down her number. I am looking forward to your call. See you later Chuck."

"Um ok, l…ehh…can I ask you a question?"

"Sure"

"Would you like to go get a cup of coffee with me? On a personal level I mean not a business one?"

"I think I would." _Our agent encourages dating flashed in mind._ "Until today I would have had to decline your offer because of the rules I had to follow. Now it seems I'm not bound by the same rules as before."

"Really? I…um…mean good." Chuck glanced at his watch and frowned.

"What's wrong Chuck?" inquired Sarah.

"I just noticed the time; and I'm rather hungry, would you like to make it a dinner date instead? I'm sorry for being so forward, it's just when I get near beautiful women my brain forgets to control my mouth."

"Mmmm, let's see. You think I'm beautiful," _As nervous as he is, I know he's not just trying to get into my pants._ You sound like your pretty well off," Chuck's eyebrow rose at this and Sarah noticed it right away." Ok you're rich and you're handsome. What else could a girl want? So yes Chuck I would like to on a date with you and get something to eat. Do you want to pick me up or should I meet you there?"

"I don't know too many good places to eat around here so you pick the place and I'll meet you there at seven."

"See you at seven Chuck, it's a date." Sarah got into her car and pulled out of the parking lot. As chuck watched her car head away from him, he took out his phone and called Ellie.

"Well Chuck how did it go with the girl?"

"It went good after I got done stepping all over my tongue. We have a date at 7." A high pitched _Yessss _echoed through his phone. "Easy on the ears there El, it's just one date. She's probably being nice because I'm her contact"

"Stop that negative talk right now Chuck. Any woman would be happy to go out with you. Now go get ready for your date. You can fill me in on the rest later, bye Chuck."

The first date went better than either of them expected, so Chuck decided since he had the time to spare he would stick around and help Sarah move. Over the next couple weeks they were busy packing her place up and moving her things into storage. Chuck convinced her that she would not need to waste money keeping a place near DC because she would not be coming back as much as she used to while working with the CIA. Chuck was a big help in getting her ready to move. All it took was a few phone calls from Chuck to the ISA and all the moving plans were taken care of. Sarah also needed to clear Langley and go through the normal process anyone leaving the headquarters would. During the time they spent getting her stuff ready to ship and put her things into storage they enjoyed a few more dinners together and they even took in a couple movies.

In the beginning this was all new territory for Sarah. Her past consisted of doing cons with her father and working for the CIA. She never had the time to relax and take in the life Chuck was showing her. It was as new and exciting as the job that lay in wait for her in California. She hoped that once they got there it would not all fall apart. One night during dinner the subject of Sarah's car came up.

"You've been putting off what you plan to do with your car. Your stuff gets picked up in a few days so I need to know soon what you plan to do."

"I'm torn on that part. I don't trust anyone with my car, but I don't like the idea of driving for a week alone. These last few weeks have been really fun and I think I'd miss you over that week."

"To easy. I'll call my office and have the travel people email me a route back that covers a few tourist places and I'll go with you."

"Chuck, I don't know," she sighed. "You've already been away from work for three weeks; I don't want you to get in trouble because you helped me out."

"Uh…Sarah you _do_ remember I _own_ the company right? The only person I answer to is me and it is my idea sooo wadda ya say?" and he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

This move caught her by complete surprise and she let out a heartfelt laugh.

"Oh my word," she giggled, "I forgot you were loaded. Your just so different than most of the rich people I have come in contact with that I forgot." _How the hell did I manage to forget that? Ok that's an easy one; he's great that's why. He's down to earth, funny, easily embarrassed and cute. Yep that covers it all. Now if the dope would just get his ass in gear and move to the next stage all would be perfect. *sigh* guess you can't have everything all at once *sigh*_

"Sarah, you ok?"

"Sorry just drifted there for a second. That's a great idea Chuck. We can leave as soon as the movers pick up my stuff."

The same time Sarah was getting ready to leave, Bryce was planning his next move. He had been gathering more and more information on Fulcrum as it passed by his desk. He also _borrowed_ some intelligence data from other analysts. When he thought he had enough information to go under cover, he made his move. He had been devising a plan that he knew would convince Graham that the mistake he made was done on purpose. He explained to Graham that his entire plan was a huge ruse to discredit him inside the agency. He would play the part of disgruntled agent giving credence to the fact he was rogue. Once word got out he went rogue, he'd go under cover and take down Fulcrum from the inside. Graham reluctantly agreed and sent him off to do his thing declaring him rogue. Bryce Larkin was getting back in the game and in a big way. He had planted evidence where ever he could, to include the CIA data base, that would help with his cover. He knew once he brought Fulcrum down Sarah walker would be his again.

**November 2005**

After a very long but relaxing 2 week trip across country Chuck and Sarah finally arrived at the apartment complex where he lived. Before they got out of the Porsche Chuck decided he better tell Sarah a few things about Ellie.

"Sarah, I need to warn you Ellie can get a bit over emotional at times. When I moved back from Austin she nearly broke my ribs hugging me. Just watch out for the Ellie joy."

"I'll be fine Chuck trust me. I'm a trained agent you know."

"Ok, but it's your ribs that will suffer not mine," this was said with a knowing smile. He knocked on the door and proceeded to go in. Without knowing it they had interlaced their hands as they entered the apartment. Ellie was just finishing up the dishes when she heard her brother call her name.

"Ellie, you here?"

"Just a sec Chuck, I'll be out in a second."

"Take your time El we're not in a hurry."

Picking up the 'we're' in Chucks answer everything else was forgotten. She dropped the towel she was using and rushed to the living room. The sight that greeted her was one she had hoped for the longest time. Not only was her baby brother holding hands with a girl but she was beautiful. Chuck had given her pretty good description over the phone but it was nothing liking seeing Sarah in person. Before Chuck could speak Ellie already was.

"Ellie Bartowski, pleased to meet you…?" asked Ellie.

"Sarah Walker, Chucks Girlfriend." No sooner were the words out of her mouth than a loud crash and thump could be heard. Both women turned to look at the sound and saw chuck lying on his back with a table lamp on his chest and a goofy smile on his face. Ellie turned to look at Sarah who just rolled her eyes and bent over to help him up. At the sound of the crash Devon came running in from the bed room a towel wrapped around his waist.

"I guess you didn't talk the girlfriend angle over with him did you?" asked Ellie.

"To be honest Ellie, I haven't had many relationships in the past. I figured that going out to dinner every night and driving across country with him fit the description pretty well. Guess I should have warned him huh?"

"Yup. One thing you need to know about my brother is he is dense when it comes to women."

"Chuckster, you ok bro?" asked Devon. Chuck closed his eyes immediately when he noticed the towel wrapped around Devon's waist was not on just right. Yep, he got the full Monty.

"Yeah, I think so. Devon I'd like you to meet Sarah Walker, my girlfriend. Now could you please put some clothes on? That was one sight I'd rather not see again." He motioned to Devon's waist.

After the pleasantries were finished Ellie fixed the two weary travelers a small snack. When the food was gone Sarah tried to excuse herself to find a hotel she could stay at until she could find an apartment. That went over like a lead balloon with Ellie. She flat out refused to let her brother's girlfriend stay at a hotel when there was a perfectly good room at her place. Chuck and Devon both knew better than to get involved when Ellie was on a mission so they stayed out of the fray. It wasn't very long before a sour faced Sarah Walker was putting her bags in the guest room. She would tell Chuck later that night, she hated to lose.

The next morning after breakfast Chuck, Sarah and Ellie went to ISA to get Sarah processed in. They all felt she would need some time to get accustomed to her new place of work. As they made their way to the entrance of the war room, they passed several people Sarah recognized from her stint at headquarters. She noted that there was more talking going here that back at Langley. Chuck explained that the happier the people are the better they work. When they finally got in the war room, Sarah's jaw almost hit the ground. She found herself standing in the middle of the most technology advanced data center she had ever seen. Techs were going through data on screens as large as fifty two inches. They gave her tour of the facilities located in the other half of the building. The armory was second to none with the sheer number and types of weapons it contained. Unlike the armories she was used to, this one had the best weapons from most friendly countries, and some that were not that friendly. There was also a small but fully functional medical room, small arms range, holding cells and a gym. When the tour was over they headed back to the war room and entered a room along the side wall. It was small but comfortable, containing a couch and a few chairs.

"Sarah, Welcome to the big time." Said Chuck as he stretched out on the couch.

"This is damned impressive. I do have a few questions for you. First, how does Ellie fit to this? Because no normal civilian, sister or not would be allowed in here. Two, you told me once we got here I would find out all I needed to know. Well we're here so spill it Chuck and three, this one is personal. Are you sure our boss won't mind us dating?"

At hearing Sarah's comment, Ellie's head snapped to her left and she stared hard at Chuck. Chuck saw the look in his sister's eyes and knew trouble was on its way, and it was coming in a hurry.

"Chuck, you big dolt," Ellie snapped at Chuck. "I'll take it from here, you messed it up enough already. See Sarah, I told you my brother was dense. You just witnessed another one of his finest moments. My brother was supposed to have explained all that."

"El, in my defense, you know my brain fails to work when around beautiful women. So being around Sarah all the time I had more important things on my mind."

"Point taken. As I was saying, I know exactly what goes on in here, where all the people used to work, everything. I'm here because I'm part of the team; I'm the on call surgeon. If one of our agents gets injured they call me and I come in. We have other medical teams on standby as well. They need to be vetted by us before they ever set foot inside here. We do this so we know that they are ok. Most of the medical teams consist of NSA personnel or former military. Because the staff is mostly former active duty military it was easier for them to come on board. As for your third question it seems my brilliant brother neglected to tell you he runs this place. Agent Walker, you are dating the boss."

"Ellie," Chuck hissed. "It's not time yet!"

"Hush little brother. It's past time. You two are perfect for each other." Ellie said with a smirk as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Wait, wait one minute. You're trying to tell me that you Chuck Bartowski are the Ghost?"

"I wasn't trying to tell you anything, Ellie was."

"Very funny guys, put one over on the rookie. Well you know what? I don't believe you," Sarah huffed.

Chuck pondered the situation for a few minutes. He felt he could trust Sarah but a part of it stirred negative thoughts in the back of his mind. His decision was easy; he threw caution to the wind. He sat back on the couch and in the same voice he used weeks ago said "Since he got shot, my friend's been watching you. Watch your back Sarah. Larkin's going to get you killed. Have a good day." He decided to add in his normal voice, "I can show you the scar from where Larkin shot me if you like."

"I need a minute to take this all in." her face growing pale as she leaned back in her chair.

Sarah was more than gob smacked. Everything she believed she knew about being an agent had just been torn apart and scattered to the four winds. She was currently dating an elite agent that only three people could identify. He was just so normal. Nothing about him screamed agent or set off her spy radar. Hell, that's what drew her to him in the first place. Except for the falling over and failure to engage brain before speaking problem he sometimes had he was every bit the boy next door. His sister knew for the love of Pete. Hell she was part of his team. That revelation was a shock in itself. She started to wonder what else her pal Graham and his cronies' spouted to her that was utter nonsense.

"Chuck, I think I broke her," Ellie remarked going over to check on Sarah.

"I think you may be right Ellie."

"She didn't break me. Shocked the hell out me maybe." Chuck raised an eyebrow. "Ok, definitely shocked the hell out of me."

"Now that you know the truth about me, are you still my girlfriend?"

"What kind of stupid ass question is that? Of course I am. Ellie, you're right, he is an idiot some times."

Ellie nodded her head in agreement and uttered a quiet, "yup."

"Idiot sitting right here you know." With that both girls started laughing. "Wait that didn't come out right. No fair picking on me!" The tension finally broken all three laughed.

"Ellie I think she's gotten enough information for one day. Tomorrow I'll fill Sarah in on the things we do here and how it all ties together. Why don't the three of us go get some lunch and get started on finding Sarah a place to call home." Chuck got up and was almost to the door when Ellie spoke out.

"Sarah, you can't say anything to Devon about this. All he knows is I am a surgeon and Chuck sells security systems. Both those parts are true. I work at West side Medical and as you know Chuck owns he business on the third floor. It's this part of our lives we don't want him to find out about. I wouldn't have told you if you weren't an agent."

"You have my word I won't tell Devon. Look, it's not quite 12 yet and I have another question that has been bugging me since I learned about Ghost and the Sentinels. Can you at least answer that one first? The rest of the stuff can wait until tomorrow."

"I'll try to, what's the question?"

"How did the Sentinels get started? Like where did they come from?"

Chuck glanced over at Ellie and she gave him a faint nod. Taking that as a yes Chuck began telling the tale of the Sentinels.

"That question doesn't really have an answer. There have been spies and assassins for as long as man has been alive, each one loyal to his cause. We are a combination of the two groups. Truth is even we don't know for sure how it all started. From what has been put together over the years it goes something like this. During World War Two a few spies got together because they didn't like the way the war was going. It took them too long to get the intelligence they gathered back to the Allied forces and then wait for the data to be processed and plans made using it. So they split from the OSS and started to do their own thing. Not because they wanted to change our government but wanted to help it end the war faster. They still sent data back to the rear, but didn't wait to act on it. They made their own plans and took out several high ranking officials, which helped turn the war in our favor."

Chuck took a break to get a bottle of water from the mini fridge before he continued on, "they began to operate like that even during peace time. They would still report to work same as always, but after that it was their own show. They then began recruiting people they felt would fit their needs, not informing the OSS. After a while they told the head of the department what they had been doing and asked to be a separate entity. They got approval and the rest they say is history."

"That's a lot to take in all it once but it does make sense," replied Sarah. "It just bugs me why no one had heard of them before."

"Now that question I can answer. We don't want anyone to know, period. Most of us don't even know the other agents in the Sentinels, only the boss has that right. Unlike the other agencies, like the NSA that tends to employ ex-military, or the CIA that likes to pick people that have a past they want to escape, we choose people that want to do this. People that can and do live a normal life outside the spy world. Look at Russia. They have had spies living and working here for decades yet we can't catch them. We don't do deep undercover work where we're gone for months at a time with no contact. We do missions like that but we always have a way to contact our families. The boss always knows where we are in case things go south. We never leave a man behind either. To us, no one is expendable. They don't have to be the best either. When a top agent suddenly leaves and no one knows where they went it raises a red flag. When a middle of the road agent leaves does anybody really care? We can train them to be better and if they don't work out we find them a nice civilian job and send them off. It's pretty much a win win situation for us. That's about as much as I know or can tell you right now."

"Thanks Chuck and what you told me is fine. I don't need to know anymore. Now you were going to take us to lunch so let's go."

As they were leaving Chuck told Sarah there was lot more going on then they talked about but he would explain it as time went on.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It had taken the couple of days longer than they had hoped but they finally found Sarah an apartment that she liked. It was not a spacious as spacious as the one Chuck had but it was comfortable and within her price range. The main thing that Sarah was looking for was large living area. The one she decided on fit that bill nicely. It also had a medium sized dining area and small kitchen. The kitchen, as Sarah pointed out to Chuck, was low on her list of priorities because her skill sets did not include cooking. The bed room was big enough to hold her bed and dresser plus a small night table. Once the apartment was picked out Chuck made some calls and arranged for her furniture to be shipped from storage. He explained that the NSA owed him a few favors and they would be glad to do it. It would take around a week for her stuff to arrive in Burbank so she continued to stay with Ellie and Devon.

Not even the return of her long absent brother could keep Ellie from voicing her opinion on certain matters to Chuck. This caused the tension between them to build over the last couple days. Ellie kept asking Chuck when he was going to go meet Morgan. This was a very sore point for Chuck. Chuck kept telling Ellie it wasn't time yet. He explained that he wanted to get his girlfriend settled in first because she was more important than Morgan. Sarah finally got tired of the constant bickering between the two siblings and took matters into her own hands. Being a seasoned spy did have its benefits. When Chuck wasn't around Sarah began her covert mission of reuniting Chuck and Morgan. She got Ellie to go to lunch one day and asked her what the big deal was. Ellie explained what happened between Chuck and Morgan. Ellie told Sarah the story of what had caused the rift between the two longtime friends. They worked together on a plan to get Chuck to talk to Morgan. Chuck being completely clueless about the entire thing thought nothing of it as they headed out to buy Sarah a HDTV. It wasn't until they pulled into the Buy More parking lot that Chuck began to smell a rat, or maybe two.

"The Buy More Sarah?" asked Chuck.

"Ellie said they have a good selection at reasonable prices. Plus you can have them install it. They have a Nerd Herd, or something like it."

"So…you and Ellie put your heads together and this is what you came up with to get me to talk to Morgan? You know he might not be working today."

"No, he is. We checked. Now get your ass in gear, I need a TV." Chuck had faced down terrorists and other agents in life or death struggles, but the thought of his girlfriend and sister working together scared the life out of him.

Looping her arm in his, she led him into the store. At one point she thought he was gonna bolt like a frightened colt. She found this rather amusing. He was an elite agent and yet he was getting ready to run to avoid a talk with an old friend. She drifted deeper in thought as they walked towards the store. She knew she had been feeling relaxed the past couple months but could not figure out why. Well now she knew. It was Chuck. He had this clam composed attitude, yet still had fun. He embraced things she had long forgotten about. His love of these things started to spread to her and she absorbed them like a sponge. She vaguely heard her name being called.

"Sarah, something wrong?"

"No Chuck, why do you ask?"

"I've been saying your name for like two minutes and all you did was look straight ahead."

"I was just reflecting on the last few months, in a good way, so don't worry."

"Let's get this over with. By the way you two are evil." Sarah just chuckled and began pulling him towards the Nerd Herd desk. When they arrived Sarah saw Morgan, or a man who fit the description of Morgan, in a debate with two other men. The first man was pale and looked like he stuck his finger in a light socket. The other was darker skinned and greasy haired. Both men gave her an uneasy feeling, not one of fear, one of disgust.

"Hey Morgan, it's been a long time buddy." Chuck began as he extended his hand towards Morgan.

"Chuck, yeah it has been. What brings you into the Buy More?" Morgan shifted his eyes from Chuck to Sarah.

"Is there somewhere we can talk?" A sudden pain in his side told him he has just made a very grievous error. He failed to introduce his girlfriend. "Morgan, this lovely lady is Sarah, my girlfriend."

"Nice to meet you Sarah. We can use the ass man's office." A short walk later they were in the office seated around a cluttered desk.

Chuck started off, "Let's cut the bull shit out and get right to the point Morgan. This attitude you have is just plain childish. Why can't you just accept that you were not qualified for any of the positions I had open?"

"That isn't the point Chuck; I've been your best friend since we were kids. That by itself should mean I get a break. Haven't you heard of nepotism before?"

"That kind of dependence on me or other people can only get you so far in life Morgan. I offered to pay for you to go back to school to get the degree you need to join my company. You flat out turned me down. Second, why would I want to hire a person who time and time again brags that he has mad work avoidance skills? My people work hard at what they do; I can't have somebody working there that goofs off and drops his assignments on other people." Sarah could sense that Chuck was starting to get angry so she placed a comforting hand on his leg.

"Come on Chuck, there has to be some job I can do for you. Ellie told me a few months back you were coming home to open a new branch. There has to be a job you can train me to do. I'm pretty good with computers despite not having a degree."

"No there isn't Morgan. All of the people who work for me are highly trained as well as motivated. You are neither, but you could be if you decided you wanted it bad enough. All you have to do is take me up on the offer to go to school. I will pay you a small salary while you go and when you graduate I will hook you up. If you don't there is no way I can hire you. The risks of me doing that are just too high."

Sarah seeing this was going nowhere decided to chime in. "Morgan, can you give Chuck and I minute alone please?

"I'd be glad to." And he stepped out of the office. When he had closed the door Sarah began speaking.

"Chuck I don't see what the big deal is. Put him on the third floor and let him make calls. What could it hurt?"

"Trust me, a lot. It's not just his lack of schooling it's him. He doesn't know what we do on the first and second floors. Curiosity would get the better of him. Morgan would begin poking around trying to find out where I work in the building. He'd start looking on computers or through desks trying to find out anything he could. The bad thing about Morgan is he has very little regard for personal space or privacy. I can't hire him until I expand again. It will take a few years from him to get his degree, by then I will be ready to open a branch office away from headquarters."

"I can see where Morgan could be a problem inside the building. Don't you have any installer positions he could fill? He can just do installs where he meets our team at the site. That way he would never have to come to the ISA."

"You know Sarah that might work. But he still has to go to school. As soon as he enrolls in school, I'll hire him on with certain conditions. I'll talk to him later about those. We really need to finish this up so we get your stuff." Chuck got Morgan from outside and brought him back in.

"Morgan, Sarah has in idea that I can live with and we think you will like as well. I will hire you as an installer on one of my traveling teams. When a job comes in you will meet the team at the install site and help with the install. But before I hire you, you will need to enroll in school and begin working on your degree. The wage I will pay you will be a bit more than you make here. When you get your degree I will pay you accordingly."

"Sorry Chuck, I can make the same money installing cable in people's homes," Replied Morgan. "I was really hoping for an inside job that paid very well. Something along the lines of writing computer programs or debugging them. You know I hate to work and yet you want me to bust my ass every day? I'll stay here thank you very much."

Morgan figured that if he pushed hard enough he could get Sarah to see his logic; she would convince Chuck to hire him. What he didn't know was she was a spy. This had it advantages. She saw right through what he was trying to do. Knowing what he was up to caused Sarah to see red. She got to her feet and walked over to Morgan and stood right in front of him.

Glaring daggers at him she spoke in a voice as cold as ice, "I can't believe you Morgan, you claim Chuck is your best friend and you try pulling something like this? To make it worse, you tried using me to get what you want. Chuck's right, you're not qualified for anything we have to offer. So stay here with the freak show I saw when I first came in. Why you want to throw away a friendship like this one used to be is beyond me. You should be kissing Chuck's ass for trying to get you out of here. Chuck was right; you are under motivated and lazy, you would never fit in with any of the teams. Come on Chuck let's get out of here."

"Sorry Morgan you heard the lady and I agree with her. If you ever decide to grow up and join the real world call me. If you want to get together for a night of gamming, call me. Have a good afternoon." That said Chuck and Sarah got up and left a stunned Morgan behind. All Morgan could do is wonder where the guy went that he used to be able to twist around his little finger in the name of friendship.

While they were making their way to the exit they were approached by the two freaks as Sarah called them. They walked up to the couple and completely ignored Chuck.

"Hello pretty lady. I'm Lester and this is my friend Jeff. Between the two of us I'm sure we have something you will like." That's when he made his mistake. He put his hand on Sarah's arm to lead her away from Chuck. Before Lester knew what was happening he felt his arm being wrapped behind his back and his face hitting the floor. There was also an angry blonde hissing in his ear, her knee in the middle of his back.

Sarah was still in a rage after the talk with Morgan. The second Lester touched her arm she snapped. All her years of training kicked in. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it forcing it behind his back; she jammed her knee into his back and leaned forward forcing him face first onto the floor. "Listen greasy, and tell this to light socket as well. When I come in here again, if you come within ten feet of me I will geld you. Nod if you understand me." Lester nodded his head. Sarah stood up and pulled Chuck from the store.

On the way to the car Sarah made a remark that made chuck laugh. "I know Morgan is your friend but he belongs with that freak show."

"Greasy and light socket? How did you get those names?" he asked. "You know what. Never mind. Let's go to the Large Mart and get your TV."

It wasn't long before the audio visual part of the day was done. By the end of their shopping trip Sarah was the proud owner of a Toshiba fifty two inch plasma TV and surround sound system. Chuck installed it as soon as it was delivered later that afternoon. What neither of them knew was they were both thinking the same thing. _This will look really good in the living room when we move in together._ They both knew it was too early for that but it couldn't hurt to dream.

**Same approximate time frame**

Over the course of the last few weeks Bryce had made some connections inside of Fulcrum. His deception had fooled several lower ranking members of the rogue group of spies. They had a few meetings together and assigned him a handler. The new handler was not as easily fooled as the agents were. He wanted to make sure Bryce was really rogue or just under cover. He set up Bryce up with a very low level Fulcrum agent to receive his first mission. The Agent would be giving him a red test of sorts to make his bones with Fulcrum. The meeting between them went well and Bryce was given a kill order on an agent that decided to leave Fulcrum and turn the information over to the CIA. Bryce didn't like the idea of killing one of the good guys, yet he understood that a few lives would be lost to protect the greater good. Bryce carried out the order a few days later in a quick effective manner and dropped the man in a local river. The local police called it mugging gone bad and were in the process of investigating the local criminals. Bryce carried out a few more missions for Fulcrum. Most of them involved gathering information from the CIA or NSA by hacking into the less secure data bases. Fulcrum wanted to see who they could pressure into joining them. It was going just as he had planned while still riding the pines for the CIA. He was moving up the ladder just like he expected.

**Rome Italy**

Alexi Volkoff's number one enforcer and overall number two in his company was sitting in a public internet café working a computer and drinking a black coffee. There were very few times she found herself alone away from the Volkoff headquarters. It had been her choice for it to be that way. Alexi had fallen in love with her a long time ago when this hellish mission first started. He was extremely jealous of anyone that came near her. In fact he loved spending as much time with her as possible. In order to not rock the boat and ruin her mission, she played the girlfriend bit to the hilt, minus the sleeping with him part. She could in fact leave and go where ever she wanted to when she wanted to. Knowing Alexi was a very jealous man and to keep him from getting suspicious she stayed close. Today she was in Italy on a mission for Volkoff. Through his long list of connections he found out one of his lower arms dealers was skimming funds off the top. This sent Alexi into a rage so he sent his best person he had to Italy to remove the man from his position, permanently.

Sipping on her coffee she logged in to her public e-mail account, Frost Queen at… and pulled up her e-mail. The first one was from the Frost Princess. It said_ the planned install went south because of interruptions they hadn't planned on. But a plan was being worked on to fix the problem._

The second email she received was slightly longer, and it too was from the Frost Princess. _New install in the works for some time in the spring. This time it will be a go. Installer has a new partner that has been a long time coming. _Frost looked at the screen with teary eyes_. It's about damn time she thought. _The third one was from, Hunter in the sky._ Full support expected for new install in spring. It may get complicated because there is a bug in the system. The ghost in the machine is working on removing the bug._ Typing off her replies she signed off the computer and headed to the airport to catch her flight to Moscow.

**USA hidden location**

In a small cabin in a remote area deep inside the forests of northern California Hunter in the sky was reclining on his couch when his computer chimed alerting him that one of the three e-mail accounts he monitored had been accessed. Frost Queen had just sent the same email reply to both parties. _I will exterminate any bugs in the room on my end. The install needs to happen without any more delays. The company was very upset that last install was canceled. We may lose his business if install does not happen._

He closed out the program and began surfing the data CIA data banks. He found what he expected. Bryce Larkin was seeking fame and fortune at his family's expense. From what he could see Larkin had done a good job so far, maybe too good if his hunch was right. If Bryce failed in what he was planning, well he was in deep shit. His trail was so good that he would have a hard time convincing anyone he was not a rogue Agent. Orion knew what happened to Graham when Larkin and Walker screwed the pooch months ago. There was no way Graham would accept any blame this time. Bryce Larkin didn't know it but he was one step from being a dead man walking.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: same old disclaimer own nothing not gonna make a cent. Thanks for those that reviewed. Please see AN2 at the bottom. More big reveals and more of Chuck's past. I always felt Ellie needed to be more involved so….Now please start reading!**

Chapter 7

The rest of the month passed without much fanfare. Mission wise it was flat out boring for all the remaining agents within the ISA headquarters. A good majority of the agents that worked for Chuck at the ISA were out on missions. Most of them conclude within the next couple of weeks, if not sooner. The ones that had completed their missions were assigned to desk duty. Chuck was a firm believer that after a mission, no matter how long, his people needed time off to relax and decompress. He even arranged counseling for those agents that felt they needed it. This again surprised Sarah. While she was actively working for the CIA she was often sent back in the field without a decent break. The more she witnessed Chuck's operation, the more she understood why his group of agents had such a high success rate. She also found out that the agents that worked for Chuck were still with their respective agencies. They may get their Intel from Chuck's group, but the missions they went on were given to them by their agencies. In essence Chuck was their handler.

The relationship between Chuck and Sarah was going well. With both of them pretty new to the relationship business they were taking it slow. They got together a few times each week for dates but gave each other time off the majority of nights. Neither of them really minded, after all they did see each other at work. Another thing that was bringing them closer together was the training they did together. They would go on morning runs with each other for their cardio. To make it more fun they would often change the venues for the run. Being in California did have its perks, one of them being the number of public parks that featured running trails. They would spend time in the gym lifting weights and every few days they would go to the dojo and practice their hand to hand skills on each other. During their sparing sessions no quarter was given or received, but Sarah knew that Chuck was holding back. Despite her desire to win, she looked at for what it was, a chance to improve her skills. Every couple weeks they would head down to twenty nine palms to work on their sniper skills.

One big development that happened was Morgan called Chuck to play Call of Duty. Both of the men had fun and some of the tension from before was eased. Chuck knew their friendship would never be the same, he was just glad to have his friend back in some form. The holiday went well for all parties. Ellie invited Morgan and he accepted.

**December 2006**

With the holiday over and after a few long talks with Ellie Chuck made a very hard decision. It came about during one of his longer chats with Ellie. She let Chuck know, in no uncertain terms, that he needed to tell his girlfriend the last big piece of the Chuck Bartowski puzzle. The information he planned to reveal was so secret, there were only four people in the world that had access to this information and none worked for a three letter agency. Sarah would make the fifth person. Chuck and Ellie escorted Sarah into his personal office. It was the largest of all the offices and was complete with a gaming consol. Once they got comfortable Chuck, with Ellie's help began filling her in.

"I'm sure you're wondering why the ISA has such a big server room."

"It does seem quite massive for the number of computers we have in the building," replied Sarah. "We have at most one hundred agents here at one time. A regular server could handle that many."

"In a normal office that would be true." Ellie added in. "Have you ever heard of the intersect project?"

"Just some rumors about a top secret project but nothing concrete. Why, what is it?"

"After nine eleven the intelligence communities tried to come up with a way for all the agencies to share any information they had." Chuck piped in. "On paper it looked good. There was a problem with the idea however. They failed to take into account the human factor. The Directors of each agency are basically greedy bastards, needing to be on top so they began to withhold information hoping to remain on top. They each wanted their ace in the hole so to speak."

While Chuck was speaking he called up a diagram on his computer and put it on the monitor on the wall. It was shaped like a spoke wheel. In the center there was a picture of a computer. Around the computer were other computers. Each of the outer computers was connected to the one in the middle.

"This is how the Intersect was supposed to work with each agency having access to all the data. Each agency would input their data into the mainframe or Intersect. That would allow the other agencies access to that data. When that didn't happen the Sentinels got involved for our own sake. We created a pipeline to the data each agency had. Every time data is inputted to any of the main frames we get it as well. We have a program that filters out overlapping information. It saves room on our servers. We have all the Intel this country has at our finger tips. This," he said point to the server room, "is the only true intersect." Chuck reached for the drink on his desk and took a long pull from the glass. This gave Sarah a chance to ask some questions.

"That's why we have so many analysts up stairs. They sift through all the new data and put the information into a workable form. If I may say, that is amazing."

"It is. There is more," said Ellie. "Right now the NSA and CIA are trying to build their own version of the Intersect. The CIA has other plans for the intersect however. Have you heard of project Omaha?"

"I was on the project. When the project got mothballed I got partnered with Bryce. I'm still not sure what the end result was supposed to be," stated Sarah.

"While the NSA the uses the computer to find clues in the data and extrapolate the data and pass on that information to the agents," Ellie continued on with her explanation. "The CIA is taking a different approach. They want to put the intersect into a field agent. That way the agent would have all the information with them. That's what project Omaha was about. The CIA planted an agent in several collages around the country. One was at Stanford, Professor Fleming. They gave all the students in Professor Flemings' class a test. It was designed to test a persons' ability for subliminal image retention."

"Chuck is that even possible? And if it is why did they mothball the project?" questioned Sarah as she looked over at Chuck.

"It is. It was mothballed because they couldn't find a suitable candidate. When I was at Sanford I graduated a year early. My "_senior year"_" Chuck used air quotes as he said it, "was my cover for an operation I was working on. Smith got word of project Omaha during my actual senior year and kept me there to monitor the progress. I was roommates and friends with Bryce."

"Bryce Larkin, my old partner was your roommate?"

"Yeah he was. He found out what my test score was and thought he could protect me from being recruited by the CIA. He didn't think I was agent material. He didn't know I was already in the Sentinels by then. He planted evidence in my room that proved I cheated on the test and got my score thrown out. He then proceeded to break me and my girlfriend Jill up by sleeping with her. That gave me the perfect excuse to leave town with my head hung in shame, in that way it worked out."

"So Bryce screwed you over to protect you? I can understand his motivation, even if I don't agree with it. I know when I first met you I didn't think you were an agent, let alone an elite one," Sarah explained.

"If that was the only reason it would be," this time Ellie jumped in "Bryce had other motivations for doing it. His test scores were borderline acceptable. He figured by getting rid of Chuck, he would take Chuck's place. You were going to be his partner. Egotistical prick that he is was looking for fame and glory like when he suckered you into the ill-fated mission. He needs accolades and will step on anyone in his way."

The more she heard about Bryce the madder she got. She couldn't help but blurt out, "That self-centered son of a bitch. He got me benched because he wanted to make a name for himself. Next time I see him I'm gonna kick his ass."

"You get to him first. I plan on killing him," Chuck interjected. "To get back on subject they had a candidate, me. My scores were above what were needed to host the program. I would have been your partner if they got it working. Without me they scrubbed the project. Now comes a bit of history. I'll make a long story short. Before I was born my dad was part of the original project. It was designed to input a personality into an agent for missions. The CIA believed it would make the agents cover better. The plan went pear shaped when a colleague of my father's tested it on himself before it was fully checked out. He became Alexi Volkoff. It took my dad years to figure out who Volkoff really was." Chuck again paused to take a drink and stretch his legs.

"Wait," exclaimed Sarah. "The most powerful arms dealer in the world was created by the CIA?"

"That's correct." This time it was Ellie. "When Chuck was about eight, he snuck into our dad's office and downloaded an early version of the Intersect by accident. It was around this time the CIA figured out that they had created one of the most vicious criminals in the world. They went after our father thinking it was his fault. My dad left to protect Chuck and me. He keeps in touch even though the CIA is looking for him. He kept working on the project, refining and improving it as technology got better. That's where I came in. I knew Chuck was part of Mossad and had downloaded the program. My dad made a huge mistake in his programing. He's a computer geek just like Chuck so he made the program to work in the brain like in a computer."

"I prefer nerd El."

"Hush Chuck I'm speaking. Now where was I before the geek interrupted me? Oh right, the programing. The problem is the brain doesn't work or store information like a computer. After I looked over his programs I point out where he should make the changes, and he did."

"After I became a Mossad agent he began sending me updates to his program," Chuck added. "Thanks to Ellie's help he got the bugs out of the program. That's another reason we weed out the duplicate files. Uploading the Intersect into agents works, Sarah, I have all the governments intelligence data in my head, I'm the human intersect."

This was just a bit much for Sarah to handle. Hers eyes rolled back in her head and it took everything she had to keep from passing out. "You're the Human intersect? How is that even possible?"

"Yes I am. I just used the thing; I don't worry about the details. That is for Ellie and Orion, my dad to work out. That is how I knew you were CIA when you busted up my card game. Certain things will access the data. It could be a name, face, scar, voice or a tattoo. We call it a flash when I see the data. It distracts me for about a second. That's why Larkin could get the shot off."

"OK Chuck, prove it."

"What do mean prove it?"

"You have to understand that was a lot to take in. I trust you and Ellie but I need to see how it works."

"That's a tough thing to do." Chuck mulled some ideas around before he spoke again. "Your last mission with Bryce, the one you dropped to shoot me, what was the name of the guy you were after?"

"Pierre Marquis." Chuck's eyelid's twitched and one eyebrow rose slightly and he began to speak.

"Born in France. Graduated from UCLA, has connections to a terror cell in France. Claimed responsibility for the bombings of the French rail system in 2004. Wanted by Interpol on murder charges. There is more but that should do."

"Damn." Sarah was stunned. The implications of what the human intersect could do was staggering.

"Chuck, just how much do you know about me?" she was getting nervous. After a second she relaxed. Even if he did know all her sordid details, he still asked to go out with her. She already knew Chuck was special, now she knew exactly how special he is.

"Pretty much everything that's in the CIA data base. Don't worry I can stop a flash when I have the information I need. I have been using the Intersect for a long time. I learned to control it a year or so ago. Ellie and Orion have advanced the intersect so much I can access the data base by just thinking about something. I stopped when I saw you are with the CIA. So don't worry about that. I figure when you're ready you'll tell me."

"Thank you for that. In time I'll tell you, I'm just not ready for you to hear it from me."

"No problem. One last thing, the CIA is looking for my dad. Our cover is we don't know where he is."

"That works for me. Why don't we take a break and go to lunch. I really am hungry."

"I could go for some food," added Ellie. "Besides you have the basics of what we do here. The rest he can fill you in on later or when it comes up. Let's go eat." This was said as she was heading for the door.

"You two continue to surprise me every day," Sarah said to Ellie as she caught up to her in the hall.

"Why is that?"

"When we first met I was shocked you knew about Chuck being a spy. Now I find out that you and your dad worked on the intersect together. Is there anything else you wish to share?"

"Not at this time except that I'm not as innocent as I look, and Chuck is far more dangerous than he looks."

That final remark made Sarah wonder what kind of situation she had the luck to fall into. From what she could tell it was a family of spies, one she was glad to be a part of.

They grabbed a couple of sandwiches at a local deli and went to a local park to eat. It was nice to get out of the office and hospital for a change. The time away from the office gave Sarah a much needed break. She was still trying to wrap her head around everything Chuck and Ellie had told her. She was pretty much in awe with Chuck and how he handled the fact he was the human intersect. He was so nonchalant about it. She wasn't sure how she would act if she had the same responsibility he did. She was even more in awe of Ellie. Sure she was a neurologist, and that was way above what she expected when Chuck told her Ellie was a doctor. Now she had to factor in that Ellie was a computer nerd as well. It simply amazed her that both the people she had come to love had such a secret life and nobody else knew. That was simply astounding. They cruised around the park for a few minutes before heading back to work.

Ellie headed home to tidy up the house while they returned to the war room. After they entered the headquarters they headed in the direction of Chuck's office when a light mounted on one of the monitors began to blink. Sarah didn't know it yet but she was going to witness her first mission request call. Several things began to happen at once. Agents that been sitting at their usual desks got up and moved around switching seats. The ones that didn't sit back down left the room. While this was happening Chuck turned to Sarah and said, "Beckman's calling in."

"Physic now as well," as she raised an eyebrow.

"I'll explain after the call." He nodded to an agent who accepted the call. The General appeared on the monitor, "Good afternoon Ma'am."

"Afternoon Chuck, I have an urgent mission that requires special handling. One of my best agents has gone missing. Major Casey was getting ready to move in on an Al-Qaida cell in Pakistan when the mission suddenly went south. We lost his team's signal half an hour ago. I don't have to tell you those Bastards don't play games. I need you to pick out my agents and put together a team to get his ass out of there."

"Roger that Ma'am. You need to have transportation waiting for them at LAX. Send me all the information you have, last know grid co-ordinates and the locator beacon's frequency. The team will be there within 2 hours. The plane must be able to be refueled in flight and have two flight crews on board. I don't want them wasting time getting them out of there."

"Thank you Chuck, tell my team happy hunting. Beckman out." The screen went black the moment she ended the call.

"Chuck would you please explain what just happened. Quite frankly I'm a bit confused," said Sarah. Chuck led her into his office before explaining.

"Sure. I told you I would explain as we went along. The three large monitors are for the CIA, NSA and FBI. The two smaller ones on the side are for Home Land Security and the DEA. For some reason none of the agencies trust the other agencies agents to do their job. Depending on whom calls in the agents in view are from that agency. The NSA agents filled in those seats because it was Beckman. The agency heads think I'm their agents' handlers. We know different."

"Seems weird to me but if that's how they play I'll understand."

"If Graham calls in you will need to sit at one of the desks as well. Normally the Directors will ask for the agent they want to handle the mission and I make it happen. If they tell me to put a team together, they want Ghost. None of Directors know his name or who his boss is. They think I'm his handler. They call me to get in contact with him. One of the reasons I work from home a lot is to avoid suspicion. Before you became my partner I was never here. Granted I only spend a couple of hours a day here so they don't miss me when I'm gone."

"So I'm your partner now?" Sarah was positively giddy with excitement. She was going to be working on a mission with the Ghost. What a huge step up from the rat bastard Larkin.

"On most missions yes. There will still be some I need to do alone. Not that I don't think you can do the job, sometimes it's better if I go alone."

"Fair is fair I suppose. So when do we leave?"

"As soon as I get all the information and let Ellie know. I'd say about half an hour."

True to his word they left in half an hour and headed to the airport. All they had to do was wait until they were ready to jump. They both knew it was gonna be a long flight.

**AN2: **this is to clear up any confusion that my use of handlers may have caused. There are two types of handlers. One is like Sarah and Casey. They work with someone not in an agency, like Chuck. The other is one that works with an agent. Agents need to report in and get assignments. They get this information back and forth through a handler. Handlers will set up meet locations, safe houses plus other things. I hope this cleared up any confusion I might have caused.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Same disclaimers as always. The action pick up in this one. Thanks for all the reviews you guys have been amazing. **

As they expected the flight was long and boring. It would have been worse had the General not arranged for the seats to be added to the C-17 they were flying in. during the flight Chuck went over the plans for the rescue attempt. It was a simple plan in reality. They would land in Bagram, then switch to Black Hawks after getting into their mission gear and arranging the extraction, land close but not to close to the teams last know location, head to the co-ordinates the General gave them of the suspected Al-Qaida cell, get the team out and get extracted. Chuck explained to Sarah that the most important part of the mission was how he departed the area after the extraction. when switching to the Black Hawks in Bargam they had a decent delay while they waited for darkness. The Darkness would hide who was getting on the birds. When they entered the new ride they would be masked. After they were extracted they would need to cover their tracks. Chuck had the plans in place but would keep them secret for the time being. Sarah was alright with the idea. It was, after all, her first mission with Chuck.

Almost thirty hours after wheels up in LAX the rescue mission started. They grabbed their mission bags and waited for the signal to exit the bird. When the gunner gave them the ok they exited the Helo and began their way to the rescue site. With their weapons and mission bags they began the trek to the suspected terrorist cell. The cell was located just over the Afghanistan border in Pakistan.

"So far so good," began Chuck. "I'm going to do some things solo tonight. It's not that I doubt your skills, I'm just used to working solo. It will take me a while to get used to the idea of working with a partner."

"I can understand that. How much farther is it?"

"Just fewer than two clicks. If the information is correct that is. Give me a review of the plan."

"After we arrive, we do a recon of the area. You will take out the guards. We go in and rescue the team. Call for extraction. Then you fill me in on what happens next."

"That's the nuts and bolts of it. Our fun starts after we get them out, I always like the escapes I come up with."

"You're nuts Chuck."

"So I have been told many times by Ellie."

They talked about a few non mission things as they made their way to the location. Finally they got in the general area and began to really get into mission mode. Sarah was surprised how quick Chuck changed. He was a completely different person. She was witnessing Ghost for the first time. It was an impressive sight.

"There is a mud hut over there," Sarah said, "I think we need to check it out."

"I agree, there is too much activity for it to be a family." After doing a thorough recon of the area, they decided they were in the right place. "Give me a few minutes to take out the guys in the back. Follow me until I go in. We'll work together to take out the ones by the doors in front. I'll signal you when to join me. You ready?"

"Damn straight I'm ready."

Sarah watched as Chuck silently made his way to the first guard. Slipping behind him he put his left hand over his mouth to prevent a scream. Using his right hand he brought up his knife and slit the man's throat from ear to ear. He lowered the lifeless body and moved to the next target. Sarah was in awe as the Ghost moved from one target to another with grace and ease she had seldom witnessed. He was quick, effective and deadly. She took in how he used a different technique to kill each terrorist. She would need to ask him about that later. When he was done with the men outside he gave her the signal to join him at the back of the building and she did. In a hushed voice he explained the plan to enter the building.

"I'll take the left side you get the right. Stop when you get to the corner. When you get to the front hit the signal. When the second person gets there they hit the signal. The first person to the front is in charge of the building from there on out. The first to arrive will hit the signal to start the entrance. Remember its three, two one, go. We should get there at the same time. Once the guards are down we go in guns a blazing, and we leave no one alive. Got it?"

Sarah remembered some of the agents she had met in the past that she felt had command presence; they had nothing on Ghost. "Got it."

M-4's slung across their backs they split up and went toward the front of the building. Sarah was first to arrive and sent the signal to the Chuck. He arrived shortly after and returned the signal. It was all on Sarah now. Collecting her thoughts she sent the signal and counted down. At the same time they made their move. Within a few seconds both guards were in the company of the others. Both kills were silent and quick, with a nod to Chuck, She charged into the house with Ghost on her heels. The element of surprise is an agent's best friend. Their M-4's cut down the enemy with ease. The terrorists only managed to get off a few shots before the battle was over. A quick but thorough check showed there were no more terrorists left. It wasn't long before they found the missing team in a back room. For the most part they were in decent shape. There were a few broken arms, ribs and facial injuries, but all things considered they would be able to travel with little difficulty. Chuck hit the locater beacon that would alert the Black Hawks that were on standby that the mission was complete and to head their way.

Sarah noted again how well prepared the Ghost was for a mission as she watched him hand out heavy duty pain tablets to the injured that needed them. After administering some minor first aid to those in need of it they moved to the place they had located earlier and waited for the Black Hawks.

Major Casey was the first to speak. "Thanks for the help. Who are you guys with?"

Sarah noticed Chucks hand move to his throat before he began to speak. When he did his voice was completely different than normal. "That Major, is none of your concern. General Beckman requested a team to get you out. That's all you need to know."

"Roger that Sir," was Casey's answer.

They moved in silence the rest of the way to the extraction site. Not long after they arrived the sounds of the Black Hawks could be heard. Seconds after the birds landed, the crew was out waving them forward. The injured were guided to the first bird and Chuck and Sarah to the second. When everyone loaded up the birds took to the skies and headed to their base. Once he birds landed Chuck pulled Sarah off the bird and at a dead run away from where the rest were headed. Sarah didn't even question it, she just followed. Chuck found an empty tent used to house transient personnel. Pulling a set of Army ACU's from his bag he tossed them to Sarah.

"Quick put these on. In the left jacket pocket is your ID card. Stow the mission gear in the bag." She didn't question him. Within minutes they were both changed and headed out of the tent, M-4's slung across their back's and pistols holstered and strapped to their thighs. They walked for a few minutes before Sarah spoke up.

"Why didn't we just go with the medical team and the men we rescued?"

"You're still thinking like a CIA agent. You need to start thinking like me. Had we gone with them, we would have had to take our masks off. The air crew, med team and the NSA team would then be able to identify us. That can't happen. Take a look around; there are hundreds of soldiers here. We blend in. Nobody will ever remember our faces. There may be a paper trail on our names, he said pointing to his chest, but only on paper."

"So for the rest of our trip home I'm Sergeant Hayes, and you're Staff Sergeant Joyner?" questioned Sarah.

"Pretty much. We're going to head to the air terminal and see if we can catch an empty seat on a flight to Bagram, from there we'll head to BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) and after a call to Beckman we'll be on a flight to Dallas. We should be home in a couple days to a week, depending on flights and such."

"This is a big change for me. Most of my missions had the travel plans made out. Are you sure we can pull it off?"

"Oh yea of little faith. Troops move like this all the time. If a bird is going where you want and they have open seats they'll take you. I have done it before. I can't say what kind of birds we'll be on, but we'll get there. They have midnight meals here so let's get some food. The dining hall should be around here somewhere. Just flash the ID I gave you and it's all on Uncle Sam," Chuck laughed for the first time in many hours. Chuck was back and Ghost was nowhere to be found.

They were sitting alone in the air terminal waiting to catch their first flight out when Sarah asked the question that had been on her mind since the mission.

"Back at the mud hut I noticed you took out each guard in a different manner. Why was that?"

"Diversion. Most agents and special operations teams have certain method they adapt to. By mixing several of the techniques at the same site it appears that more than one person or group was present. I try to switch up my routine each time. Keeps them guessing." She thought back to some of her missions and she realized that she had fallen into the same pattern he described. True to his word they were back in Echo Park in a week.

It was a week after they returned from the rescue mission when a call came in. Chuck and Sarah were working out in the Dojo, when an agent came in telling him that General Beckman was on the line for him.

"General Beckman, what can I do for you today?"

"I wanted to give you an update on the team you extracted. They are doing well and Major Casey sends his thanks. He did say one of the team members had a major case of the, how did he put it…ass. They should be back on duty in a week to a few months."

"I'll pass on the thanks to the team that did the extraction. Is there anything else you need?"

"Not for now. Have a good day Chuck," and she was gone.

As soon as she disconnected, another monitor flashed and the musical chairs began. Sarah took her seat at a desk and Graham appeared on the CIA screen.

"Hello Director, what do you need," questioned Chuck.

"I have a mission for Agent Walker. A person of interest, Joe Baldwin, has been spotted in Los Angles. He has very high connections to Fulcrum. He has a laptop in his possession that contains a list of CIA Agents. His plan is to sell the list to Fulcrum. Our information shows he will be attending a party later tonight. He has a preference for blondes and brunettes so I want Agent Walker to go to the party and get the laptop back."

"Sir," began Sarah, "what is Fulcrum? I have never heard of them before." That was a little white lie. She had heard of them before but it was from Chuck. She was not as trusting of Graham as she once had been. While with the CIA she never had heard of them.

"They are a rogue group of agent's intent on changing the way the intelligence communities do business. We have been getting bits and pieces on them for a while. It is of utmost importance we get those names back."

"Send me the information and I'll take care of it."

"Let me know when the mission is complete. Graham out." The connection was cut.

"Guess I need to get ready for a party. I'll call you when I get back."

"Have fun Sarah, I'll have somebody watching your back."

"Thanks Chuck. I'm heading out to get ready," she said just before she headed out.

Later that night Sarah walked into the party wearing a knee length red dress that hugged her curves in all the right places. Her hair was pulled back in a loose bun with decorative chop sticks holding it place. Circling the room she spotted her mark. She was surprised when she saw him sitting with an attractive brunette. Her hair was almost to her waist and she was wearing a full length dress with an open back. The front was just low enough to show a bit of flesh. _Damn my job just got harder. Time to get to work._

When she got to the table the couple was laughing and joking. He was holding her hand as well. She made her move.

"Hi, I'm Loni Anderson, is this seat taken?" she took note that not only was her mark checking her but so was the brunette.

"Please have a seat Loni, I'm Joe and this is Charlene."

"Loni," Charlene said almost purring, staring straight into Sarah's eyes. Charlene let her eyes drift down towards Sarah's chest, "Very pleased to meet you." With that she got up and gave Sarah a light kiss on the cheek. Charlene turned to Joe and in a husky voice said, "Sweetie, would you please be a dear and get this lovely lady a drink? Bring me a fresh one as well." Honoring the lady's request he headed to the bar, dreams of a wild night dancing in his head.

"Charlene, is it? I need to inform you I don't go that way. So don't get any ideas about later."

"Loni…" the voice was huskier and sexier than before. Loni, was said with reverence. Charlene reached up to touch the choker on her neck, "Please call me Chuck," and she winked and smiled.

"Chuck…your Chuck?" she squeaked out.

"In the flesh mostly," Charlene answered with a laugh. "Except for some plastic and some tape," Chuck said while moving said plastic up and down. "That part I hate. I always chafe for a few days after donning one of these disguises. I told you I had your back."

"I'll be damned. So you're here because you don't think I can do my job?" she hissed.

"Not at all. After you left the tech's found out Joe has a problem. He had an accident a while ago that left him with some ah…personal issues. He likes to watch if you know what I mean. So instead of scrapping the mission, I came as Charlene. We will be his entertainment for this evening. If all goes as planned he will never know. We take him to his room tranq him and get the laptop. Easy as pie."

"When he gets back let's give him a show," stated Sarah.

Joe returned and the plan started. Sarah and Chuck began exchanging small kisses. It wasn't before they were headed to the room. Once inside, Chuck used the tranq dart he had hidden in his bra. One pin prick later and Joe was out for the count. They grabbed the laptop and headed back to the secure room in Chuck's apartment. Chuck went into his bed room to get changed back to normal, and Sarah put in a call to Graham. Chuck stayed hidden as Sarah filled Graham in on the mission results and made arrangements for the laptop to be picked up.

"Well look whose back. I have to ask you, how did you get into that?"

"I had help. I don't normally dress as a woman for missions, but when I do, I get Ellie to help to help me. She's a wiz with makeup. Before we send the laptop back we need to copy the files on the hard drive."

"Smith was right when he told me you could walk up to me and I would never know. Since we skipped out before they served the food I'm hungry. How does a pizza sound? I'll order one and we can watch a movie." They spent the rest of the night talking over the mission and how Chuck made his disguises. It was a very good night.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

**March 2007**

**Echo Park**

Ellie was enjoying her day off just lounging around the house. Devon was at work so she had the entire place to herself. After giving the apartment a thorough cleaning, she flopped down on the couch and opened her laptop. She signed into her Frost Princess account. There was one e-mail from Frost Queen. It said. _Company is in need of a good exterminator. I recommended the same one as before and the company agreed. Also company wants the install complete by summer._ This was the e-mail she had been waiting on for months. Her reply was simple, will talk to installer today. Time frame should be no problem. Will possibly be two installers because of the job size?

**Orion's Den**

The laptop on Orion's table beeped signaling an incoming e-mail. He was pleased when he read the install was back on. It was now time to put his plan into motion.

**CIA Headquarters**

Graham was reading the latest bit of Intel on Fulcrum he received from Bryce. He was getting more concerned with each report that came in. In the beginning there was a good deal of useful information in the files. Now the information was almost as the same as they were getting from other sources. The names Bryce used to send were confirmed to be Fulcrum. The new ones turned into dead ends. In the latest file all the agents were dead, and had been for some time. Graham stated to think that Larkin had really switched sides. It was Larkin's problem if he did. He could be taken care of easily, and he had the man who could do it almost at his fingertips. While Graham was not as vain as Larkin, he had his own ego. The head of the DNI was retiring and the two people that were left in the running were himself and General Beckman. With his new version of the Intersect ready to come one line in a few months he needed to get Larkin back. Bryce would upload the Intersect and would then go back undercover with Fulcrum and do some real damage.

The key to his success was Walker. She was a field agent not some pencil pusher. Yet every time he called ISA she was there to answer the call. It was like she never ran missions. He had sent her on a few missions that should have taken her a few weeks to complete. She always had them done in record time. If she had gotten that good in just around six months he needed her back. Teaming her with Bryce with intersect would be a formidable combination. Fulcrum would be done in a few short months. He could see his promotion dancing before his eyes. He made a decision that would change his future.

He logged on to his e-mail and saw what he had been waiting for. The computer that would allow the Intersect to be uploaded into a human was going to be complete by the end of the month. It was time to get Larkin back in the fold.

He placed a call into ISA and waited for them to pick up. His screen filled with the face of Agent Walker.

"Hello director," she greeted him.

"Sarah, I need you for a mission. I have an agent on a deep cover mission. We are still getting information from him but it's stale. I believe he may have turned. I need you to get him back."

"Who is the agent, and who is he trying to infiltrate?"

"I can't tell you that yet. When you get back to Headquarters I'll give you a full read in when you arrive. During this mission you will report directly to me."

"Director, you know that's not how we work here. All information we get comes here first, then gets passed on. Chuck is my handler when I'm on a mission, so he will need to be read in as well. If the mission is that classified we can switch to his secure office and you can read both of us in then."

"Sarah, that's not possible. If anyone else gets the details it could endanger the mission. There are forces at work here that we can't fathom. I have no idea what the results would be if they got their hands on anything you may find. This mission must stay between the two of us."

"Sir, with all due respect, I no longer work for you. You can provide missions, and I will do them but not without my bosses knowledge."

"You leave me no choice Walker; I am pulling you back from ISA immediately. You will report to me in two days. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sir. I will call my boss, who answers only to two people, of which you are neither and tell him you want me back. Good day Sir." She disconnected the call, and went to Chuck's office. She found him playing HALO on his gaming consol.

"Chuck, we may have a problem."

"First have a seat." When she sat on the couch, he got up and sat beside her and put his arm around her back. "Now what has you in such a tizzy?"

"Graham wants me back. He needs for a special mission." Sarah then told Chuck about her call with Graham.

"Sounds off the books to me, Sarah."

"That's what I thought too."

"So what's our next step?"

Sarah went over Graham's call again. She'd been here for a while now and was starting to think more like Chuck. What was Graham trying to say without really saying it? Slowly the pieces started to fall into place.

"First I need to have one of the analysts look into the CIA data base and pull the information on who is working a deep cover mission. We can eliminate female agents. Graham let it slip it was a male agent. Then tell them to find the reports that have stale data. He made it sound like the operation has been going on for a while, so I can have them go back six months and start there."

"Good plan. Assign someone to take care of it. When you find something out bring the information to me. I'm gonna call Smith and see if knows anything." Sarah left and Chuck made his call. Like he figured Smith had no intention of letting Sarah be forced back. It was her call to make, if Graham had a problem with it, he would personally have a talk with him.

A few hours went by when Sarah again entered Chuck's office. This time she had more disturbing news than before.

"Chuck. There is no mission in the CIA data banks that fit the description Graham gave me. I know it's off the books."

"That was our first guess. Smith hasn't heard anything either. So do you want to take the assignment?" He was talking to her as her handler not her boyfriend.

"Part of me wants to. An agent could be in so deep they can't get out." Sarah noticed a twinge of remorse flash across Chuck face but it was quickly hidden. "The other part of me is screaming setup."

"My opinion is that it is a setup," Chuck took a second to gather his thoughts. "My guess is he has someone on an off the books mission going after a high profile target. The agent is wavering on his position. Should he flip sides or stay the course. That could be the reason the information is old. He wants to look like he's still loyal and at the same time wants to protect who he is with."

"That sounds reasonable. What do we do?" asked Sarah.

"At this time nothing. We need more information from Graham. I normally don't get involved with this sort of problem, but this one involves one of my people. That I can't have."

"So we just wait it out?" asked Sarah.

"For the most part yes. I have a few contacts at CIA Headquarters. I think I'll give them a call and see what they can find out. If I'm right Graham is keeping the information from his agent off the net, most likely on a standalone computer in his office." He stood up and walked around the room for a few minutes trying to come up with a plan.

"I'll get one of the tech's to remote hack into his system. He can scan Graham's work computer before we use my contact to check his office. If he does find anything we can use, we address the issue personally. If not we go to the contact."

"That will work for me. I need to call Graham back and tell him I won't be back and he can call whoever he wants. Not that it will do any good."

Chuck walked over to Sarah and pulled her into a hug. He bent down and whispered in her ear, "thank you for staying. It means a lot to me." Then he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Chuck you're the number one reason I am staying. This is the best relationship I have ever been in and I want it to work. That and I get to work with the best." This time it was her turn to kiss him. She went for the lips instead. They were so into each other that neither one heard Chuck's door open. The sound of someone clearing their throat caused them to jump back.

"Ellie, what have I told you about knocking?" Ellie was too busy trying not to laugh she had a hard time answering.

"That was about the apartment. I never thought you two would be going at it while working!"

"Next time knock, there is a huge sofa in here after all," he wiggled his eyebrows. This caused his sister to laugh and Sarah to blush.

"The big install that got canceled due to lack of funds is back on and the company wants it done by summer. They are still looking for the exterminator as well. Seems the company wants the same one as before. I did mention to our representative on site we may be sending a pair of technicians for the install."

"Two installers, El? And where do you expect me to find another one?"

"Chuck we have teams of installers on the third floor, just use them," stated Sarah. She really didn't understand why it was so hard. Ellie looked over at Sarah and then back to Chuck. _There is no way my brother is this dense. Then again maybe he is._ Chuck noticed the motion of his sister's eyes and the light came on. Sarah was getting more confused the longer the conversation went.

"Ellie, you can't be serious."

"I am. We both know it's going to be hard, if not impossible for you to do it on your own. Plus, I don't think Sarah wants to be separated from you for a couple months if not longer. So do the right thing by asking her."

"Did I ever tell you were too smart for your own good?"

"Several times as a matter of fact now ask her."

"Hey I'm still here you know," Sarah almost screamed he last part. It was bad enough she was confused but now they were talking like she wasn't even there.

"El, have a seat I have a feeling this will take a while. Sarah, told you about Volkoff Alexi Volkoff, right?"

"He's the product of the bad intersect. Now he's a huge arms dealer wanted by just about everyone. I know we've been after him for a while, but we can never get close," explained Sarah.

"Right, and when I did get close the mission got blown when someone interfered. Alexi Volkoff was going to bring me on as a hit man or exterminator. From what Ellie just said he wants me now. That was the install she was talking about. I have a chance to finish what I started over a year ago. We won't get another chance." Chuck paused for a second and looked into Sarah's eyes and continued on. "I'm asking you if you would like to be my partner on this mission. It's up to you. Take as much time as you need, but I'll be leaving in a few days."

"There's nothing to think about. I'm in. You can explain all the details later, at your place. Since that was so draining I think we need a break. Ellie, how do you feel about a nice juicy steak?"

"Sarah you read my mind. Come on Chuck it's time to eat."

**Graham's office**

After his attempts to get Walker back failed he went to plan B. By sheer luck Bryce picked today to call in. He quickly filled Bryce in on the Intersect being ready and that he would be the host. Bryce was surprised and impressed that he was chosen to upload it. Graham then went to plan B. He told Bryce that he would partner him back with Walker when he returned. Graham told Bryce the he would need to convince Walker because she was enjoying her time pushing pencils and guarding an asset. _Well that's a lie, but Bryce won't know._ Graham pulled out all the stops, promising Larkin the most dream assignments once he got Walker back under control. Graham could tell he had Bryce right where he wanted him. His day was looking up.

**Fulcrum base**

Bryce felt like he won the lottery. He was going to be the Intersect and he was going to get Sarah back. He also knew Graham to well, almost as good as the man knew himself. Graham's claim of fortune and fame was a hollow promise. Fulcrums were real. He already moved up the ladder and into the top ten. A few more big missions and would make it to number one. To bring the Intersect to Fulcrum along with Agent Walker would get him a regional commander's position. And Graham was handing it all to him on a silver platter. It was almost too easy. Go in and upload the Intersect then return to Fulcrum and begin the takeover. Bryce didn't care who ran what as long as he got a big part of it. The country would still be there and his money would still be good. He told his plan to the leader of the Fulcrum base and got his blessing. He was on his way up. His day was looking good.

**ISA Chuck's office**

Lunch was over and the phone calls were made. Smith was more than happy to hear that the operation was back on. They had waited a long time for this. Chuck gave his second in command all the information he would need to take over in his place. His number two was used it by now with all the security firms business trips Chuck had gone on over the years. Chuck would stay in touch as always.

"Sarah, you need anything from the armory before I lock it up?"

"No thanks Chuck, I have everything I need."

"Good, you head to your place and pack. When you finish stop by my place, I need to talk to Ellie for a bit before we go."

"Ok, I'll see you in a bit," she gave a Chuck a kiss before leaving.

**Chuck's Apartment**

Chuck and Ellie had finished their talk and Chuck was in his room finishing his packing. Sarah arrived just after the siblings were done speaking and the two women were sitting on the couch engaged in idle banter. Ellie decided it was time to bring up a subject that had been on her mind for some time.

"Sarah, you've been dating my brother for a while now. Between us women, how do you feel about him?"

"El, he is the most important thing to me. I have never been in such a great relationship before. He is one special man, but I'm sure you know that."

"I do. Have you told him how you feel yet? I know my brother pretty well and he really can be dense about women."

"Ellie, I care about Chuck a great deal. I know I love him. It's just that I'm afraid to tell him. Hell, he hasn't even said that to me. I know I'm scared that if I tell him I love him this whole thing will come crashing down on our heads. I think he is worried the same as me."

"Nonsense Sarah, I see the way you two look at each other. Telling each other how you feel will not cause your relationship to crash and burn."

Sarah was still talking to Ellie when Chuck walked in. all he hard was Sarah say I love him. He walked up behind her and put his arms around her and said, "Well, it's a good thing I love you too." He spun her around and kissed her with as much love and devotion as he could. It was not a kiss meant to stir arousal, rather one to show the person you were kissing the depths of your emotion. Sarah returned the kiss in the same manner. A after a few moments of saying I love you to each other they broke apart to face Ellie who had a huge grin on her face.

"See guys, that wasn't so hard no was it?"

Almost in unison they replied, "No."

"Time for you guys to get going and good luck with the mission." They exchanged hugs and goodbyes. As they left the apartment Ellie could hear Chuck say, "Ok, it's time to take down Alexi Volkoff and bring my mom home."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**April 2007**

**Graham's Office**

Graham was seated behind his desk looking over some mission reports. Today he could be described as the happiest man in the world. Bryce Larkin had been able to upload the Intersect and use it effectively. The initial test results were above what they had expected. He had been able to flash only the test cards that had embedded images and not on the others. Other than a minor headache Bryce was showing no ill effects. He was able to recall about eighty percent of the information that was contained in an image. Graham knew was time to send Bryce to the ISA to get his partner back. Graham figured that once Bryce had a chance to talk to Walker she would see the light and come running back to the CIA leaving the pencil pushing behind. After all they were partners with benefits before.

Bryce was the other happy camper. He was now the intersect host. Down loading the intersect was easier than he thought. When he pondered all the power he had at his fingertips the thought made him shiver with delight. After leaving the test area and taking some pain tablets he was on his way to Graham's office to get his first mission. The receptionist showed him into Graham's office and told him to have a seat and wait for the Director. It wasn't long before Graham arrived and the briefing started.

"Agent Larkin how does it feel to be the most valuable agent in the CIA?"

"It feels good, Sir. So what's my first mission?"

"Straight to the chase eh Larkin?"

"I don't see the need to stay here for any more tests; I'm not a Guinea pig. Fulcrum is out there and getting stronger every week. The longer we wait around the harder it will be to stop them."

"I like that attitude Larkin. We need to make a call first and bring your partner back where she belongs." Graham hit the connect icon on his computer that would establish his direct link to the ISA. A few seconds passed before the request was accepted.

"Good afternoon, Director, what can we do for you today?" queried the Agent in Charge.

"I need to speak with Agent Walker ASAP. I'm going to need to her for an urgent mission that starts tomorrow. Tell her I have her partner, Bryce Larkin with me as well." Bryce had moved to stand beside Graham by this time. When the Agent saw Bryce on the screen he pressed a button on the desk to initiate the secondary communications protocol. Chuck would now receive the same feed as he was. It would allow Chuck the chance to decide if he was going to participate in the call or not.

"I'm sorry Director, but Agent Walker went on leave a few weeks ago and will be gone for about a month. You have other agents here that you can use. Shall I get one of them?"

**Royal Windsor Hotel, Belgium**

Chuck and Sarah were relaxing on the couch of their hotel suite when his phone beeped indicating a text message. He opened the text and saw the message from ISA. Getting off the couch he made his way to the desk and brought up the video feed on his laptop. He turned to Sarah and said, "This should be good."

"I bet it will be," as Sarah saw Graham and Bryce together on the screen.

**CIA **

"NO, Agent Sanders, it has to be Walker. Give me her number so I can call her myself and straighten this mess out." Graham was about to continue when Bryce chimed in.

"Listen Agent, you are talking the Director of the CIA. Agent Walker works for him and not you. Now be a good little flunky and get your boss on the feed so tell him I need to speak with my partner." Bryce was not very pleased at the treatment he was getting. He, Bryce Larkin was being treated as an equal despite his being superior. Now that I'm the Intersect Bryce thought, this won't do. He was going to show them, he would show them all.

"I'm sorry Agent Larkin, Director Graham. Agent Walker's leave was approved two weeks ago and she left a few days later. She did not leave a number where she could be reached."

While Bryce was going off on the Agent again Graham pulled out his cell phone and dialed Sarah's personal number. The phone rang a few times and was picked up by the agent on the screen. "Agent Walkers phone, this is Agent Sanders can I help you?" The scream that Graham let out sent Chuck and Sarah into hysterics, and Bryce further into his rage.

**RWH**

Chuck decided to put an end to the nonsense that was going on between the two idiots and his Agent. His image replaced Sanders on the screen and he spoke. "Director Graham, Agent Larkin I see you have been giving my Agent a hard time." Sarah noted that the tone Chuck normally used had slipped away and Ghost was starting to assert himself.

"Chuck what are you doing on this call? It's for CIA personnel only. How and why are you hacking in?" asked Bryce.

"Well Bryce, I'm _shocked_ your boss didn't tell you. The ISA is where I work. I handle all the Agents that work there. So are done accosting my people?" Chuck questioned back. "Now that we know each other, what is the reason for the call?"

"I want Walker for a mission. Bryce came back with some damaging information on the group he infiltrated. He needs Walkers help for the remainder of the mission."

"Agent Sanders did inform you that Agent Walker is on leave didn't he? And Mister Smith, my boss, also informed you that Agent Walker works for him correct?" Not waiting for an answer Chuck continued on, "therefore there is nothing further to discuss. Good day Gentlemen, please refrain from causing such a stir in the future, Bartowski out." Turning to look at Sarah he smiled and said, "I've always wanted to do that."

"Chuck Bartowski you are crazy."

"Yeah, but you love me anyway."

"I do love you, even if you are crazy."

They went back to the couch to relax some more and go over what they had just seen.

**Graham's office.**

Bryce was livid. Today's events just made things more clear. What kind of country was it if Chuck Bartowski was handling Agents? It was time to get back to work for the real people. He took his leave from Graham and headed back to the Fulcrum base he was working from.

Graham was beginning to panic. All carefully crafted plans were starting to fall apart at an amazing rate. He was sure his plan would work. Then Bartowski had to enter the picture and bring up Smith's name. He never wanted to meet that man again after the last meeting they had. He saw his dreams of grandeur were close to becoming a thing of the past.

**RWH**

Chuck and Sarah had returned to the couch after the talk with Graham and Bryce. Chuck hadn't seen Bryce since he left Stanford during his senior year. The man he saw on the screen was not the same one he remembered from college. He wanted to see if Sarah had the same thoughts.

"Did that seem like the same Bryce you were partnered with?" began Chuck.

"No it didn't, he almost seemed possessed. We both know he is high on himself but I have never seen him like that before."

"Neither have I. I need to talk to Ellie; if my hunch is right we may have a big problem."

"So what are you thinking?"

"Bryce uploaded the Intersect."

"Shit. What makes you think that?"

"A few things came to mind right away. First, the CIA has been working on their version of the Intersect for a while and was close to finishing it the last time we checked. Second, Bryce was borderline acceptable based on Flemings test. Third, Graham said before he wanted to use you to get his agent back. I figure that Graham believed that pairing you up with your ex-partner would be the push you needed to come back to the CIA. I think the Agent in deep was Bryce. He knew Bryce would jump at the chance to upload the intersect. My guess is that Graham told Bryce the intersect was ready to be downloaded into an agent and that's why Bryce came back." Chuck paused for a minute before he continued.

"There were a few flaws in the intersect program before we fixed it. One of the issues we had with the Intersect program was mental instability. It gave the host a feeling of invincibility. If they were using the basic program my dad created, and never fixed the bugs, we could be looking at that side effect."

"That makes a lot of sense, and you're right, Bryce would jump at the chance to upload it. What I can't figure out is why they didn't fix the problem before they tried to put it in an agent," Sarah said with a slight frown.

"My guess is they didn't know about it or didn't care. My dad and Ellie found the problem a few years back. It took my Dad and Ellie almost a year to fix the program. If the CIA did know about it and with the time it would take to fix the problem they probably thought it was worth the risk. You already figured out Graham doesn't give a fat rats ass about most of his agents. To him they are just tools to be used and tossed away when they are to beat up to be useful."

"I can't argue with you there. The more I see the CIA from the outside of it, the better I feel about leaving it."

"Kinda like a light coming on slow, like when a person uses a dimmer switch?" questioned Chuck.

"At times it feels like I was hit with a two by four. It's late and you have to get rid of the bug in the morning. So off to bed you go. I'll see you in the morning," Sarah gave Chuck a kiss and made her way to her room and closed the door. Chuck headed to his room to get some much needed rest and try to figure out what Graham and Bryce were up to.

The next morning the couple shared a breakfast of fresh fruits and waffles. When Chuck was ready to leave he gave Sarah a kiss goodbye and went to leave the room. Sarah had other plans however and began attacking his lips with more passion than usual. The kissing got more advance with hands moving and caressing each other's bodies. It was going well until Chuck bumped into the chair by the door and fell over it bringing Sarah down with him. The sudden impact of them hitting the floor ruined the mood they were in. After a shared laugh they both promised to pick up where they left off when Chuck returned.

Chuck's target for the day was a Belgian business man, William Schmidt. He was one of Volkoff's most important accountants. Schmidt had several major flaws that got him on Volkoff's shit list. He liked fast cars and expensive women. He also loved to play black jack, the higher the stakes the better he liked it. Even the most uneducated gambler knows you can't beat the house. They stack the odds in their favor. He would win big sometimes but he lost even bigger. He soon found he could not cover his gambling losses, so he borrowed more money in hopes he could win it back. He soon lost all his holdings and had to sell his houses to pay off the debt. Soon he was unable to raise the money he needed to pay off his debts and began to embezzle small amounts of money each month. One thing led to another and he was still broke and he owed Volkoff over three million Euros. He knew what the results would be if Volkoff found out. He packed up all his remaining things from the small farm house he still owned. He would leave the country and turn himself in to the American authorities and reveal every one of Volkoff's accounts he knew about.

Ghost had located his targets cottage a few days ago and spent the couple of days after it learning his targets schedule. After selecting his firing position and noting the distance, he selected his M89SR Israeli sniper rifle. It was small enough to be concealed and used the standard seven point six two NATO rounds. It was his favorite rifle for shots under five hundred meters. Attached to the underside of the weapon was the high tech camera he would need to record the kill. Ghost checked his watch and noted that within a few minutes his target would arrive. Right on time a small car pulled in front of the cottage. Ghost looked through his scope and sighted the driver. As the driver closed the door and took a step towards the door, Ghost squeezed the trigger. His aim was true and the target collapsed into a heap near the front of his car. A pool of blood was forming near the targets head. Ghost picked up the spent shell casing and placed it in his pocket. Grabbing the rest of his things he made his way back to his car. In route back to the hotel he took out his phone and dialed the number of his contact.

"Frost," was the hello he got.

"It's done. I'll send the conformation footage when I'm secure," and the call ended. Ghost was no fool; his definition of secure was an internet café well away from the hotel. If anyone somehow intercepted the e-mail, it would be well away from where he was staying.

**Volkoff industries.**

Frost put her phone away and turned to Alexi, "It's done. We should be getting the footage in a while. He needs to get to a secure location before he sends it out."

"This enforcer of yours is very good. I think after one more job I will offer him employment."

"That's good Alexi"

"I think I may have him take your place Frost, and then you would never have to leave my side."

"You say the nicest things Alexi." All Mary Bartowski could think was _hurry up Chuck._

**RWH**

Chuck returned from his mission and was currently sitting on the couch wrapped in Sarah's arms. They started spending time like this after Chuck completed a hit. It was to reassure each other they were the most important people in each other's lives. For Sarah it was her way of telling Chuck that no matter what he had to do she understood and would stand by him. For Chuck it let him know that she would always be there for him. They soon drifted off into sleep wrapped in each other's arms.

**Echo Park**

**Morgan Grimes room**

Morgan had just finished off another marathon session of Call of Duty online. It wasn't the same as when he played video games with Chuck. He knew those days were long gone now. First Chuck moved away after Stanford, then there was the whole job fiasco and when he returned from Austin, he came back with a girlfriend that was best described as hell on wheels.

He let his mind drift to that fateful day several months ago that lead him to this point in time. He had taken some time off from the Buy More and went down to make some sense of his life. He just had another fight with his longtime friend and was trying to work out everything that Chuck and Sarah told him. He was just about to finish off some zombies when a man stepped up to him and began talking about the game he was playing. He introduced himself as Daniel Shaw. It wasn't long before they were playing as teammates and rampaging. Morgan, the bumbling idiot that he is, was eating up the praise he was getting from Shaw. Shaw told him he was a natural with a pistol.

They met up several more times after that to play video games. They even ended up in Morgan's place a few times. Morgan knew his new friend could never take Chuck's place but it felt nice being wanted again. Shaw, knowing what kind of person Morgan was and that the hook had been set, decided to reel his fish in a little more. He took Morgan to an indoor range to give Morgan lessons on how to use a real pistol. Shaw not wanting to endanger his life or Morgan's started him off with a Beretta nine Millimeter. Morgan had some trouble at first, but he soon got the hang of it. After about a month of hanging out and going to the range, Shaw revealed his true identity, a special agent with the CIA. He explained to Morgan that his job was to recruit and train people that the agency may have over looked in the past. He saw Morgan playing the game a few weeks before approaching him. He made his report to his superior that he may have found a suitable candidate based on the way Morgan handled the weapon from the video game. His boss had told to continue to observe him and see if he would be good agent material. Judging by what he had seen so far Morgan was a natural. After a few months of personalized training by Shaw, he was pronounced ready to become a full-fledged agent of the CIA. Several weeks later Shaw presented Morgan with his service weapon and credentials.

Morgan was excited as he had ever been in his life. He could hardly wait for Chuck to come back from his business trip so he could show him his badge and tell him he was a real CIA Agent attached to the covert division known as The Ring. He knew that being an agent would impress Chuck, maybe even enough to land him a job in Chuck's company. After all Morgan figured, who better to have working for you other than a real CIA Agent? Daniel told him working for Chuck would be the best cover job he could have.

**RWH**

It had been a few days since Chuck had completed his first mission for Volkoff. He was just waiting for Frost to contact him with the details of his next mission. Supposedly it was going to be his final one before he would be joining Volkoff industries. His laptop chirped indicating an e-mail had been received from Frost. It was his next assignment, Demetri Zukov, West Coast operations of Volkoff industries. Chuck quickly found out that Volkoff was a hard taskmaster. Zukov failed to complete several important business deals Volkoff wanted to get done. When Demetri was confronted by Frost about his lack of closing skills he made the mistake of insulting her. That was his kiss of death. Alexi would not tolerate the love of his life being insulted like that. For Volkoff the answer was simple, Zukov would have to go. Waytt would be perfect for this assignment.

Frost also explained in the email that the assignment would take him back to California. The west coast branch of Volkoff industries was located near Los Angles, in one of the suburbs. Chuck and Sarah were happy about the new location. They could go back home for a while and relax before Chuck had to begin work again. After this job for Volkoff was over it would be on to Moscow to begin phase 2 of their carefully planned extraction of Frost.

**Morgan's room**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Again thanks for the reviews! Parts of this chapter are real events that I was involved in or knew people that were. The OFC I am introducing is made up from people I know so if they seem like Mary Sue's blame it on real life getting in the way of storytelling, lol. I needed another body, and figured why stick to the same ones, right? Same disclaimers as always.**

**May 2007**

Chuck and Sarah arrived back in Echo Park a little over a week after Chuck getting his new assignment. They decided to hang around the hotel they stayed at and relax. They were both glad to be back in the area even if it was only for a short time. It would be a good chance for the couple to catch up with Ellie and Devon. It was decided that Sarah would go to the ISA and check up on a few things while Chuck would avoid the place like the plague.

Sarah would be getting a fake assignment from Smith to explain her being gone for an extended amount of time. Chuck on the other hand did not need any excuse, he owned the company that operated on the third floor after all. He was also the top handler and would sometimes not come in for months at a time. His people were used to Chuck being gone and checking in via video conference. Chuck spent a lot of time training Agent Sanders to fill in for him while he was away, and Sanders knew exactly how Chuck worked. The ISA never skipped a beat when Cuck was absent.

Chuck did his normal permission recon on his intended target. Chuck picked a simple disguise for this mission far away from his normal look. Long black hair and Goth style clothes with heavy makeup. He chose this type of disguise because he could use it for a long time if needed. It required none of the latex mask preparation that would be needed on a more intricate disguise. After several days of observing Zukov, Chuck knew it would be a hard hit to perform. Demetri lived in a heavily populated area and took public transportation to and from work. Pulling a gun in an upscale suburb outside of Los Angles would be tough. So would setting up a sniper location in such a heavily populated area. There was too much chance of getting caught by the neighborhood watch or local police. When Zukov had meetings he would take a limo. The limo would pick him up in a secure underground garage below the offices and drive him to the location. Chuck figured he would need to do a public hit and get away un-noticed.

After a great deal of thought and talking it over with Sarah, he decided on a method he rarely used, poison. His poison of choice was the venom of the Inland Taipan, the most venomous snake in the world. He would need to call in a few favors to get the venom he needed, but the end result would be a clean and virtually untraceable kill. It would take a few days until he received the venom, but he was not in any hurry. The longer he was home the better it would be. It would give him more time to put his plans to extract Frost into place.

Sarah's fake mission was to escort a non-existent diplomat as he traveled around the country. She had to laugh at the ease that Chuck's boss could arrange a plan. The day after she was told what her mission would be, all the information she need was uploaded into the system. If anyone checked, the diplomat's complete history would appear to be above board.

After the dust settled from his recon and planning, Chuck decided they needed some alone time. With Chuck dressed as he was, going to an upscale place to eat would be a tough sell. So he took Sarah to a small but very good hamburger place that Morgan had recommended a few years ago. When they entered the establishment it was seat yourself. Because they were both spies they subconsciously selected a table against the back wall that had a clear view of the door. They both believed the phrase "Never let your enemies get the drop on you because you didn't see them coming." it had served them both very well in their careers.

While they were waiting for the waitress to take their order, they sat at the table holding hands and making small talk. When the waitress finally came over to take their order, Sarah got her normal medium rare burger with extra pickles and onions. Chuck ordered a medium burger with lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. They also got a large order of fries and drinks.

"I wanted to take you someplace special, but this will have to do until we get this mission over with. It's kind of hard getting into a nice place looking like this," as he motioned to the clothes he was wearing.

"I will admit I like the way you normally look better, but it's better than being out on a date with Charlene." This made both of them laugh.

When they calmed down a bit, Chuck turned his head towards Sarah and gave her a kiss. Not a major one, just a small one to let her know again he loved her. Sarah was quick to respond to the kiss. The waitress chose this exact moment to bring their food. Not noticed by the couple in the process of making out was Morgan staring through the window at them. He was about to enter the restaurant when he saw Sarah making out with some guy that was not Chuck. He didn't like Sarah that much after she chewed his ass out at the Buy More. He pulled out his camera and snapped off a picture or two. This would help him get rid of the she devil once and for all.

"Sarah, I have been giving the install some thought. Together we can handle it, but I'm worried about something going wrong."

"I am too. We are going to be in a very hostile work environment. It makes sense to be a little more cautious."

"I'm glad you agree. After we finish we can head to the beach and take a walk. It's a nice night out. It's been a while since we have had the chance just to spend quality time together."

"Aren't you the romantic one, Mr. Bartowski?"

"Well I do try." Soon the burgers and fries were gone and they made the drive to the beach. They enjoyed a pleasant walk down by the water's edge. Of course they had to stop several times to exchange kisses and let their hands roam around each other's bodies. The night air soon turned chilly for what Sarah was wearing so Chuck decided it was time to head back.

"Let's head back to my place. I need you opinion on the guy I want to bring in."

"Sounds good to me I'm getting a little chilly. I learned a long time ago to trust you and your instincts so if you trust him then he should be fine."

It wasn't long before they were back at Chuck's place and seated at the desk in his secure room. Chuck placed a file on the desk and pushed it towards Sarah. Sarah took one look at the file and her head popped up.

"Chuck, with as dangerous as this mission is going to be, do you think this old guy will be able to handle it? Does he owe you or something for saving his ass?"

"No, he doesn't owe me a thing, Sarah, just look over his file and tell me what you think. " Chuck got up and headed for the door to give Sarah time to go over the file. As he turned to go he had one final thing to say, "I owe him, Sarah. I owe him my life." And Chuck left the room.

Sarah was stunned. She knew all about Chuck being Ghost. He even filled her in on some of his missions one day when they were comparing note on missions they had been on. She had witnessed him in action when they extracted Casey. How could an agent as good as Chuck need help? And what kind of man, that was not an agent, help Chuck out? She dug into his file with gusto wanting to know everything about him. She wanted to know all about the man that had saved the most important thing in her life, Chuck. The picture in the file was of him in his dress blues. He was Sergeant First Class in the Army. Eight rows of ribbons adorned the left side of his chest. The man was highly decorated. Several combat medals were in his file, as well the normal smattering of non-combat ones. The one thing that stood out the most was his status with the Army. He wasn't even active duty Army. He was a reservist. Those medals must have been awarded when he was younger she mused. If Chuck trusted him, then she would welcome him with open arms. Sarah figured he was going to be the support element of the team.

Chuck gave Sarah a few minutes alone to digest the information in the man's file. He could almost hear her thoughts as he re-entered the office in his apartment.

"Well Sarah, what do you think about Sergeant White?"

"He looks like he'd make a good communications guy. He has multiple skills in that area. I think he's a good choice."

Chuck began laughing a bit at that remark. Sarah gave him the stink eye as he chuckled.

"Not only no, but hell no. That would be a waste of his talents." He moved to the couch and pulled Sarah onto his lap. He gave her a small kiss before continuing on. "I'm going to tell you a story that no one knows about, not even Ellie or Smith." Sarah was getting nervous about hearing this. What could have happened that Chuck would keep this from his boss and his sister?

"Right after the Iraqi War began; I got a call from David. Mossad needed me for a mission. It turned to be the worst mission of my life. I almost gave up being an agent after it. There was a target he needed taken care of near Ramadi. With all the American forces in the area I had the best shot of getting in and out un-noticed. The mission went off without a hitch until I began my egress out of the area. I was moving along the roof tops when part of the roof gave way and I crashed to the ground, breaking my left leg." Sarah gave Chuck a small hug of comfort. She could tell he was reliving a very painful moment in his life. During some of their talks she had shared a few of those moments with him as well.

"I managed to drag my ass out of the mud hut and into the street. From there things got worse in a hurry. A few of the locals still loyal to the local insurgents captured me. They dragged me across the ground into another house and began kicking the crap out of me. My eyes were almost closed from getting hit in the face and I thought they might have broken a few ribs. I knew it wouldn't be long before they killed me and dragged my dead body through the streets." Chuck sucked in a couple of deep breaths to collect his thoughts.

"Chuck, I can tell this is hard for you. You don't have to go on," Sarah said. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear this.

"No it's fine. It's about time I told someone and who better than the woman I love?" Chuck gave her a kiss to prove his point. "I was on the verge of losing hope when I heard the door burst open and the sound of automatic weapons fire. The next thing I could tell the men that were beating me were dead. This Soldier comes sauntering over to me and starts cutting me loose. Just as he gets finished getting me loose a few new guys came in and began attacking the Soldier. What I saw next is hard to describe, even now. He moved like lightning and had cat like reflexes, even in full IBA and Kevlar helmet. It was like watching deadly poetry in motion. His knife that he had been using to cut my bonds flashed a few times and the men were all on the ground. He kept mumbling something about idiots ruining his day." Chuck reached for a glass of water on the end table and took a small drink.

"I was so out of it I said the first thing that came to my mind, 'Dude your old'. He just laughed and looked at me and said 'I know, but I ain't broke'. I actually laughed at that. We made it into the street just as all hell broke loose. The squad he was patrolling with came under heavy small arms fire. A few got hit in the vest but nothing serious. He put me on the ground and positioned himself between me and the insurgents. He pulled out his nine millimeter, took the safety off and handed it to me. Then he said, 'just point it at anyone not wearing green and squeeze the trigger, then hope you hit something.'"

"It looked like we were gonna be overrun very quickly. He was alone in holding off several armed insurgents and I was useless at best. I told him to get away and leave me. He said he'd never leave a man behind. Then he turned to look at me and with this crazy ass smirk says, 'I live for this shit.' and starts returning fire. Several tense minutes later his men had regrouped because of the orders he had been barking out. They soon had the area under control." Chuck paused to take another drink before going on. "They called in a MEDAVAC after we left the town in their Hummers. While waiting for the birds I noticed the blood dripping from his left hand. He'd been shot in the shoulder while keeping my ass safe. As we parted ways, he gave me a piece of advice. 'Next time you go out for a stroll take a Marine with you. The Army is tired of saving your ass.' Just like that he was gone."

"Damn," was all Sarah could say. She tightened her arms around him even more and held on for dear life. During the story she could almost see the events as they happened. It scared the hell out of her that she almost lost Chuck before she had a chance to get to know him.

"During my time at the field hospital I overheard some loud talking in the hall so I went to see what it was all about. Standing in the hall is the guy who rescued me. He's telling off a doctor that refused to release him for duty. He kept on telling the doctor it was just a flesh wound. He spotted me and asked how I was doing. We chatted for a few minutes and he left again to try to persuade the doctor to release him. I never did find out if he got his way or not. He was the craziest bastard I ever ran into."

"So that's why you want him for the team. It makes sense if he's that good."

"It's not just that he's good Sarah, when he turned to look at me during the fire fight I saw his eyes. There was no fear there at all. He was taking fire from five guys armed with AK-47's and you couldn't tell. He doesn't rattle under pressure. If the crap hits the fan, we can depend on him, both of us. He didn't let me down then, I know he won't let us down now."

"After what you just told me, I would be glad to have him on our team. I know I'm drained after hearing that, so I know you must be as well. I'm going to head out and get some sleep." She began to move off of Chucks lap when he pulled her closer.

"Please don't go. Spend the night here, with me. I want to fall asleep holding you tonight. I think it will be the only way I will get some sleep."

"Of course I'll stay. Come on lets go to bed. In the morning we will have time to call Beckman and get him here." She did get up this time and held Chucks hand as they went to his room. After they completed their night time rituals and changed they both got in Chucks bed and within minutes they were both sound asleep cradled in each other's arms.

Several days passed after the night of 'the talk' as Sarah dubbed it. Chucks snake venom had arrived and it was time to put his plan into motion. It was a fairly easy plan that would require both of them to pull off. Demetri had a set routine that was easy to follow. One day a week he would get his lunch from a street vender and sit on a bench near a small park. The day had finally come to put the plan into motion. Sarah, with long red hair and dressed in a short denim skirt and a tight white top walked in front of him and pretended to stumble on her heels and drop her bag. When Demetri saw the beautiful creature before him stumble; he bent to help her get her bag.

While this was taking place Chuck in his Goth disguise moved in to help her as well. He placed his hand on Demetri's shoulder as he bent down and used a pressurized needle he had concealed in his hand to inject the venom. Demetri liking what he saw reached down to pick up her bag as well and tried to hand it to her. He began having trouble breathing and was losing some of his motor control. Sarah and Chuck asked him if he was alright and gently pushed him against the back of the bench. Once he was seated with his eyes closed, he looked like he was asleep. They both left the area, the mission complete. By the time his people would come to check on him Demetri would dead. If not it wouldn't matter. The venom would kill him by the time a medical team could figure out what was wrong. Within the hour they were back in Chuck's place phoning in the results. Alexi was pleased and told them he would arrange their transportation in two weeks. He wanted them to have some time off after doing the number of missions they had done in the short time he had given them.

**Morgan's room**

Morgan now had several pictures of Sarah cheating on Chuck. He knew he had enough evidence to show Chuck what a sleaze Sarah really was. Combined with the fact he was an agent, Chuck would realize the one person that truly cared about his wellbeing was Morgan. It would just be a matter of time before his old friend was back and things would be like they used to be. Who knows, maybe he could get Chuck a job in the spy biz as well.

**Fulcrum Base**

Bryce had indeed risen to the top. He may have had to kill a few extra people to get where he wanted, but it was all the same to him. He had a plan and was sticking to it. In a few months he would begin his plan to get rid of Chuck Bartowski and get his Sarah back. He would break into the Intersect facility and copy the Intersect files and send them to Chuck. He figured one of three things would happen. The first being Chuck would open the e-mail and upload the Intersect. With him only being a handler and not an agent it would land him in a bunker. The second possibility was Chuck would open the e-mail and not be able to handle it and go insane, this possibility was remote and he knew it. The third thing that could happen was he did nothing with the e-mail, and when they came to check him out they would find it and label him as a rogue agent. No matter what happened, Chuck Bartowski would be out of his hair and there would be no more excuses for not pairing him back up with Sarah.

**Orion's Den**

Orion was busy creating some new toys for Chuck to use. The first was a small hand held device that would reverse the effects of the program that turned Hartley into Volkoff. It looked similar to a hand held gaming system. The second was a virus that would allow the CIA to access Volkoff's server. Once that was complete the hackers and crackers would have all the time they needed to crack any security Volkoff had on his system. If all went well Hartley would be back to normal, the CIA would have the information they had been after for twenty five years and his wife would be home.

**Volkoff Industries Frost's office**

For the first time in years Mary could see the light at the end of the tunnel. She would be going home or die trying. Even though she had managed to sneak in a few trips over the years to see her husband she still missed him. She managed to see him on her trips to see Demetri to straighten out some issues he was having. Now the problem was fixed permanently. Their plan was going very well. Mary knew that she had the best team anyone could want working on her extraction. Chuck would be here soon and then she would be home where she belonged. Thinking solely as a mother, she could not wait to see his girlfriend.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Same disclaimers apply as always. Thanks for all your reviews good or bad, they do mean a lot. I have the next few chapters done; well the story is complete actually. I keep adding to it and cleaning it, boring I know. Well enjoy. **

Chapter 12

**June 2007**

**ISA**

The first week of their time mandatory time off had flown by. Sarah had been asked by Chuck to stop by the War Room and pick up a package he was expecting from Orion. Because it was on her way to Chuck's place she decided to pick it up on the way over to his place. He informed her he would be busy most of the morning talking with Ellie making sure everything was in place for their mother's return. Sarah decided that since she was already in the building she would get her daily workout in. She changed into her workout clothes and went to the room that housed the heavy bag and other practice gear.

When she opened the door loud thumps could be heard coming from the direction of the heavy bag. Sarah saw a shirtless man attacking the bag with a fury she seldom saw take place in a gym. From what she could tell he wanted to knock the bag off its hanger and through the wall behind it. The bandanna on his head was soaked with sweat and he had a MP3 player attached to his shorts. Faint sounds of Guns-N-Roses' 'Welcome to the Jungle' could be heard from his ear buds. His back and arms were well defined and his muscles rippled every time he threw a punch. He wasn't a large man standing only about six feet tall, and not overly muscular. What he was doing on the bag could only be described as a boxing routine. Crisp left jabs were followed by right hooks then a flurry of body shots. Each of the body shots got louder as he increased the force he used as threw them.

Sarah knew one thing for certain; this Agent could pack a punch. While he was throwing punches he was also dancing around the bag with agility and grace. Being one of the major players at ISA Sarah made it a point to get to know each of the agents that worked there. This was a big change from before when she kept herself isolated from almost everyone. Chuck had changed that for her. She made her way over to the man and keeping a safe distance she began calling out to him. One thing she knew for sure was never surprise an agent. The results were generally not good for the home team. Unable to get his attention by calling out to him she tossed her towel at him. The towel hit him in the back. The man stopped hitting the bag and turned to face her. He popped his ear buds out and addressed her.

"Sorry Ma'am, I didn't realize anyone else was here. I didn't mean to hog the bag. It's yours if you want it. I'm Sergeant White, by the way." Sarah was stunned when she heard the name. The _old guy_ was standing right in front of her. _Damn she thought, my initial thoughts were way off._ This guy's body looked anything but old.

"Sarah Walker, but call me Sarah."

"So your broke foots main squeeze? He is a lucky dude."

"Broke foot? Why do you call him that?" Sarah really wanted to know why he was calling Chuck that.

"It's a private joke between Chuck and me. It goes back to when we first met in Iraq. He had a broken leg at the time. He called me old," White said with a small laugh. "I looked right at him and said yeah I am, but I ain't broke. It got him to laugh. It looked like he could use some cheering up."

"Chuck told me the story about how you two met for the first time. I'd like to thank you as well for helping him out back then."

"Just doing my job," answered White. "It's a joke I use. At my age in the Army the young bucks see me as old. But as you can see I am. The thing about that is many of them have some kind of profile, job related injuries and such. So when they call me old, I say to them, yeah but I ain't broke. I'm just lucky I guess." He added a shrug for emphasis.

"That makes sense to me. So when did you get in?"

"I arrived here just after you two got back. I processed in over the last couple of days. Kinda pissed me off too when I got the call."

"You got pissed because Chuck asked for your help?" Sarah was getting mad at that thought.

"Hell no! Helping Chuck will be a blast. I was finishing up setting up a date with a young chick and my phone went off. It was some General on the phone, Becker, Buckingham or something like that."

"Beckman, maybe?" suggested Sarah.

"That's it. I'm horrible with names of people I don't deal with. She tells me I have been called to active duty. I've heard that a few times before, just not from a General. Then she tells me I have to be at Ft Meade the next day to meet with her." Then he began to go off, "I mean really, what's the hurry? Didn't she know I was seconds away from sealing the deal? I mean this chick was hot! Long legs, dark brown hair, piercing green eyes and her body…" he stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Sarah give him a strange look that appeared to say, and you're telling me this why? "Sorry, guess you didn't need to hear that part." This was said with a laugh.

"No not really. Then you ended up here."

"Yep, pretty much. After a brief stop to see the General and get read in on the basic's I caught a flight here. I do expect to hear the true reason I'm here and not the reason the General gave me."

"Let's take a walk. You can tell me what you were told and I'll fill in the blanks." Sarah said as she turned to leave the room.

"Hey Sarah, you might want to rethink that plan a bit."

"Why?"

"Well it's not up to me, but if I were you, I would want to change from what you're wearing and into some regular clothes. You don't want all those men out there to suffer a heart attack do you?" this caught her by surprise for two reasons. The first was White was so calm and relaxed about everything that he eased any concerns she still had about him being on the team. Second she realized that all during their talk he never once checked her out, he just looked at her eyes the entire time. Third she forgot she was still in her workout clothes consisting of tight spandex shorts and a sports bra. _Yep I'd better change._

"While I go change you should hit the showers. You'll stink up Chuck's office if you don't."

"Sounds like a plan to me. I should only be about twenty minutes. I'll meet you in the War Room."

A short time later they were seated in Chuck's office and the explanation began. White was the first to go.

"General Beckman told me I was coming here to support Chuck's team of analysts. I knew that was crap because of how we met. There is no way an analyst would have been where I found him."

"That's true. Chuck and I are CIA Agents, sort of. That's all I can tell you for now. He requested you for a special mission. One of our agents has been stuck in an undercover operation for a long time. We have received information on her location and we plan to extract her and bring her home. We have a plan in place to do that. It will be a dangerous mission and we may not get out alive."

"Sweet! So I'm not going to be babysitting some analyst like Beckman said. You just made my day. Now that I have a better understanding of what's going on let's go grab Chuck from where ever you have him stashed and get some lunch."

"What makes you think I have him stashed somewhere?"

"Easy, he's not here. I saw the other agents in the War Room, some of them are smoking hot. I'd want to keep him all to myself, well if I went that way."

"You're too much. Chuck and I are in a monogamous, loving relationship. Neither of us has to worry about the other fooling around."

"Good to know. That being said, you think Chuck would mind if I had a go at some of them? The little blond caught my eye." this caused Sarah to laugh out loud.

"Shouldn't you be chasing someone a little more your age? She's barely twenty five years old."

"Nah, I'd be afraid I'd kill em. I may be old but I'm still fully functional. No little blue pill for me."

"Ok, way too much information for me. Let's go grab Chuck." She could hear White chuckling all the way out to the car, mumbling about how easy it was. He yanked her chain but good. _Yeah she thought, this guy will make things interesting. He's like an older male version of Carina._

When they made it back to Chuck's place after lunch Chuck filled White in on every detail. This surprised Sarah to a small extent. The only thing Chuck did leave out was the part about him being the Ghost. Other than that he laid all the cards on the table and offered White one last chance to back out. White of course declined after he stopped laughing. He simply said he was tired of fighting in the sand and this was a much better deal. After all, how many times do you get to save somebody's mom?

**Volkoff Industries**

Mary was counting down the days. Her freedom was just a few weeks away. While she was pondering that thought Alexi came into her office and told her that Waytt would be here in a few days and he would be bringing his girlfriend with him. He wanted her to run a check on the name Elizabeth Coates. Within a few minutes Sarah's well put together undercover identity popped up. She was wanted in Texas for murder and several states for armed robbery and assault. Minor charges for drug possession were also in her file. Her know associates included Tony Waytt. Alexi told Frost to let Waytt know his girlfriend would be welcome to join him. Frost made the call to Waytt. Alexi figured he was getting two killers for the price of one.

**Echo Park**

It took a few weeks to finalize the plans to extract Frost from Volkoff Industries. Chuck and Sarah were already packed and ready to go when the day of the mission finally arrived. They would fly ahead on a private jet and get set up while White would follow them on a commercial flight the next day. They also devised a plan on how to communicate with each other during their time in Russia. When Chuck and Sarah landed at a private air field on the out skirts of Moscow, Alexi and Frost were there to meet them. After the normal pleasantries were exchanged they went back to Volkoff industries.

"Nice place you have here Mr. Volkoff," Stated Waytt.

"Thank you, Waytt. I have you living arrangements ready for you. You two will be staying in the building across the street from this one."

"Excuse me or being bold Mr. Volkoff," Liz began. "I would feel much better if we lived away from here. The less I know about what goes on around here the better. I don't want you sending someone like Tony here after my ass because I know too much. I've seen firsthand what he can do, I like my life just like it is now, alive."

"She does have a point Alexi," added Frost. "Waytt is just your enforcer. The less he knows the better. They can get some place close to here where if you need either of them it won't take long for them to get here."

"Frost, that's why I love you, you're always keeping my best interest at heart. You two will stay here until I find you a suitable place to live."

"Thank you Mr. Volkoff," was said by Waytt and Liz.

**Echo Park**

**Morgan **

Morgan was given his first assignment by Shaw; he was to take pictures of area around the ISA building. His main tasking was to get pictures of Sarah as she entered and left the building and who she left with. So far things were not going well. He only had a few pictures and those he had taken a while ago. He gave up for the time being because he found out through the grape vine that Sarah was out on a mission.

**CIA** **Headquarters **

Graham was very pleased with the information Larkin was now sending back. His biggest coup so far was the names of several high ranking Fulcrum members. The CIA tried to bring them in during a raid of a Fulcrum hive, but the agents refused to come quietly and were killed in the resulting firefight. The other part of Graham's plan was also proceeding along nicely. There were several more recruits waiting to receive the intersect upload but the plans were put on hold when the system crashed. The tech's told him it would be a few weeks before it would be ready again.

**Volkoff Industries.**

Over the next few days Alexi and Frost showed Waytt and Liz around the compound. Waytt and Liz were impressed at the size of the place as well as what was taking place. They were also taking notes on where certain things were located. They found what looked like the server room in the main building. White was making his own plans as well. He was in possession of the toys that Orion had designed for Chuck. He wasn't having a good time at all. The TV shows stunk and were in Russian to boot. The sooner he got out of this hell hole the better. He began to formulate his own plan.

One night while the boys were busy entertaining guests, Frost took Liz for a private walk around the compound. Part of the way down a remote walk Frost stopped and looked at Sarah. She waited a few seconds and began to speak, "This three foot area we are in is the only place in the compound that is completely blind to all the security Volkoff has in place. We can talk safely here. I want to thank you personally for coming here with my son."

"It is my honor to help Chuck in getting you back home where you belong. Ellie sends her love as well."

"I see you get along as well with Ellie as you do my son. I'm glad he finally found someone that loves him as much as you do," saying that Mary pulled Sarah into a hug which she returned.

"At first I was worried that he would see me as damaged goods after all the stuff I had done in the past, but as we talked things out I saw he had done the same things as me and then some."

"That's one of the prices we pay for being spies. Lucky for us both of our men are also in the same lime of work, more or less. We need to go, Alexi hates when I stay away to long."

A week later Waytt and Liz moved into their new place. When they finished they put their plan into motion. They met with Frost and told her they wanted to do something nice for Alexi and take him to dinner at a five star restaurant. Alexi knew Frost enjoyed the company of the two new employees and when he saw her eyes light up at the thought of going to dinner with them his decision was made. He would do anything to keep his Frost happy. Part of their plan was to get Alexi more at ease around them while in public. It would make it easier for them in the long run. When they left to change for dinner they sent a message to White with the information he would need. Since they arrived in Russia he became there shadow in case something went wrong.

Alexi arranged for a private room at the Ararat Park Hyatt Hotel and for the meals to be ready when they arrived. The two couples were enjoying their meal while Volkoff's armed security detail stood around and watched. Midway through the meal the door bust open and a man in a suit came in holding what looked like a game system in his hands.

"Mr. Volkoff, Mr. Volkoff," the man said in a panicked voice. Waytt and Liz were in shock at seeing who it was. Frost was just stunned. The armed security detail pulled their weapons as did the other three members sitting at the table.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! No need to get violent, here. One of the guys at the office sent me over here with this to give to Mr. Volkoff. He said it's an important message from a contact in the CIA." He held out the device he was holding.

Volkoff arose from his chair wait an angry look on his face. "CIA, the bane of my existence. What's the message?"

"He said to tell you the CIA is sending some agents to get you. He sent their pictures over on this," He said holding out the electronic device. "He said just hit the green button and the picture will come up. Then hit the arrow key to see the next one."

Volkoff grabbed the device and pressed the button. Different color lights illuminated Volkoff's face and his eyes were locked on the screen. It was over in a couple of seconds. Volkoff slumped back down onto the chair he was sitting in. He had a dazed and confused look on his face. He spoke to the only person he recognized.

"Mary? Mary Bartowski, where are we? And who are the rest of these people?" his voice sounded nervous and not like Volkoff at all.

"Mr. Volkoff, Hartley, Sir. Can you please tell your men to stand down, guns make me nervous," asked the messenger.

Hartley looked over at his men and spoke, "Please gentlemen lower your weapons, and the others will lower theirs as well." It took a few moments but calm had been restored to the room.

"Hartley, what is the last thing you remember?" asked Mary.

"Stephen and I were working on a project as you know. I tested it out and then everything is pretty much a blur after that," no sooner had he finished than the sounds of a tranq gun being fired were heard. The security team was slumping to the floor.

"Guy's I hate to break up this party but the more those guards hear the harder it will be to do what you three have left to do," the messenger said as he pointed at Chuck and Sarah. "I would suggest you get to Volkoff industries as fast as you can and get to work. Save the damn twenty questions till we're on the way home. I hate this place. I haven't seen a good piece of tail since I got here."

They started to plan their exit when the messenger began shouting, "Mr. Volkoff was attacked!" at the same time he was dragging Hartley towards the exit, followed by Chuck, Sarah and Mary who by now were going along with what was happening and had drawn their weapons. "The men that did it are in the room. Call the authorities! Hurry Mr. Volkoff we need to get you to safety."

They ushered him into the waiting limo and sped toward Volkoff industries.

**AN: This chapter kind of grew from where it was supposed to, lol. I am trying to keep the chapter lengths about the same. I am breaking this chapter up into 2 parts. **

TBC in chapter 13.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Please take the time to review, it means a lot to the writers. Thanks again to those taking the time to read this work. I hope you enjoy it.**

Chapter 13

As the limo sped to Volkoff Industries Sarah was the first to speak, "White, what the hell were you thinking back there?"

"Judging from your reaction not much. What's the big deal we got her out didn't we?"

"We're the spies here not you!" Sarah was almost screaming at this point. Chuck made an attempt to calm her down but it went un-noticed. "We had a plan in place and you changed it without even telling us!"

"Thank God I'm not a spy then," White shouted. "I learned a long time ago not to go up against superior numbers and weapons with inferior numbers and weapons. Which is exactly what you guys did tonight. It seems to me you have to be an idiot to be a spy." Sarah was about start up again but a glance from Chuck and the hand being held up by White stopped her.

"The moment I signed on with you, like or not you became my team. I don't give a shit how good you are I'm not gonna let ya get your selves killed. I was your back up in case things went south. Well tell me exactly how your plan would have worked if you were inside that fortress? It wasn't going to happen. No way in hell. It was a tactically unsound plan from the start. You had too many variables going on at the same time. The removal had to be done where there was the best chance of success. Hence the restaurant. If things went south you had two things going for you, first you had equal numbers and weapons, second you were already outside the fortress. If that device failed to work you could have still grabbed his ass and run for it. Inside what would you chances have been? Slim to none and slim was heading for the door."

Hearing White's explanation seemed to calm Sarah down. The three spies looked at each other and began to realize that the sergeant was right. He had made several good points they had either over looked or passed off because it didn't fit into how they were trained. Once again Chuck's ability to read people, and the faith he put in them had paid off. White wasn't quit finished with his rant.

"And when exactly was I supposed to get the plan to you? I did what I did because I felt it needed to be done. You can send my ass back if you want, it makes no difference to me. We have half of the job done so let's finish the second half. When we get back to Volkoff Industries, Chuck can work his magic with the computers and we can get the hell out of Dodge. I hate this fucking place," His speech over White relaxed against the back of the seat and closed his eyes.

The rest of the ride was used by Mary and Chuck to explain to Hartley what had been going on for the last twenty plus years of his life. He was skittish at best before they explained it all to him, after that he was much worse. They explained exactly what he would need to do to convince the guards he was still himself. Mary really didn't expect trouble because he was only gone for a few hours but you could never tell in this business. Mary led them to the server room and used her pass code to open the door. Once inside Chuck took the USB drive Orion had made for him and inserted it into a USB port. According to Orion it would self-extract and allow him to start hacking into the system. Once he cracked the password he would forward the information to the Sentinel's hackers and crackers as well the ones at the CIA and NSA. It would only be a matter of time before all the data that was needed to bring down the evil empire that Alexi Volkoff had created. Chuck sent a text message to Orion and Ellie, it was simple yet meant the world to those that were about to get it: _Package is safe and secure, just waiting for shipping to be arranged. Hopefully I can send it FEDEX._

Almost as soon as the message was sent, a reply came in from Ellie, _Thank you_. It was followed up by one from Orion; _I can't wait to see the package. Working on the information you requested._

White the ever observant one, motioned to Sarah and Hartley to join him on the far side of the room. Once they were he spoke softly to the pair, "I think it might be a good idea if we gave them a few minutes alone." Sarah just nodded her head and walked to the door with Hartley and White. They left the room and waited in the hall.

Back in the room, without the eyes of the others around to see, Chuck walked over and hugged his mother like his life depended on it. Mary was no better off. This was the day they had waited on for many years. They both shed tears of both joy and relief. Both of them were glad that White gave them a few minutes alone.

In the hall Sarah was going over the events of the day. She gave some more thought to what White said in the limo on the ride back. She knew in her heart that White was correct in what he did; it was her mind that was having a hard time accepting it. All her training was geared towards impossible odds missions, one against many, depending only on her skills to survive. She would have to talk with White about it and now seemed as good a time as any. Her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and Chuck motioned for them to come inside.

Once they were all together again Chuck took hold of Sarah's hand and began to speak, "Sarah Walker, I would like to formally introduce you to Mary Bartowski, my mother. Mom, I would like to introduce you to Sarah, my girlfriend, the woman you thought I would never find. She is more than that to me than that. She is my everything, my second half." The emotions of the day finally broke through on three of the people in the room. Chuck, Sarah and Mary were now in a group hug and the tears that each had tried so hard to hide rolled down cheeks like the water off a ducks back.

When the hugs ended Mary took both of Sarah's hands in hers and looked right in her eyes. Mary began to speak, "Sarah, I know the kind of life we live as spies. It can be a hard and lonely one. It can destroy you. Don't make the same mistake I did." She glanced at Chuck before continuing, "You two have something special, I can see it in both your eyes. I know you're a good spy, but Chuck's better. I know he doesn't need protection, I'm asking you as his mother keep him safe. If I know Chuck at all, he'll keep you safe as well."

Sarah touched by the heartwarming speech pulled Mary into a hug and whispered, "I will."

They gathered up some things that Hartley thought held some sentimental value for him and packed them up. Hartley grabbed his personal laptop he had used as Volkoff to look at later. Now it was just a matter of getting home. Hartley didn't understand what the big deal was. He had a few private jets at his service. Mary accompanied by Hartley went to her room to gather a few things of her own. It didn't take her very long. There was nothing there she really wanted. All she wanted to do was put the past behind her and move on, beside the things she really wanted were standing right in front of her and waiting for her back in the states. They let Hartley make a few calls and in no time the flight was arranged. On the way to the private airport they would swing by the place Sarah and Chuck had called home for the last few weeks, grab their stuff and make their way to the airfield to complete the final leg of their journey. White simply left all his stuff saying, "I don't want anything to remind me of this shit hole."

On the way to the Airfield Chuck sent another simple text to Ellie and Orion: _We're coming home with the package and a long lost friend. We are ready to board private plane now, flight leaves in minutes._ Chuck sent Ellie a private one as well. It simply said: _just like Sarah it's time._

**Echo Park**

Ellie and Devon were enjoying a rare day off together. They were cuddled on the couch watching the credits roll on the movie they had just watched. Ellie's phone vibrated on the coffee table and she went to pick it up. Devon grabbed her hand and said, "Babe don't answer that, it may be work calling you in."

"No Devon, I have to answer check it, it may be Chuck with some news about the job he's on." She picked up her phone and saw the first message. The shout and high pitch of the "YES" she let out just about ruptured Devon's ear drums and left him wiggling his finger in his ear to clear the ringing. It also made half the animal population in Echo Park stop what they were doing and look around for the origin of the annoyance. She then threw herself at Devon grabbing him with all her strength as the tears streamed down her face. All Devon could make out was Mom and home. It made little to no sense to him. After several moments she pulled back and checked out the other message from Chuck. She looked up at Devon and gave him a wry smile and dragged him to the door.

"El, where are we going in such a rush?"

"Chuck's place, I have a surprise for you."

"Uh...ummm, El do you think it's a good idea to ah…do that…in Chucks place?" he was fumbling for the right thing to say.

"It's not for that you goof." She used her spare key to enter Chuck's place and led Devon to the secure room. Once the door was closed, she turned to Devon and said, "Don't freak out"

**Morgan and Shaw's Office.**

Things had been going pretty good for the new team of Ring Agents. Morgan turned out to be quite good at infiltrating places and planting bugs. For Morgan's first solo mission, he was given the story that a local bank was the front for a terrorist group that they needed information on. His job was to get ahold of the accounts they had with the bank. Morgan would sneak in and place a small device on the Ethernet cable going into the manager's computer. The Ring would then have access to all the information on the servers. Shaw had him play the part of a wealthy businessman who wanted to open a large account. Morgan played the part to perfection demanding that he be brought lunch or he would take his business to another bank. When the manager left to place his order with his secretary, Morgan planted the device. He was in and out of the office within an hour. Morgan was on the top of the world when the Ring Director called Shaw and told him the mission was a complete success and his new recruit was better than he was lead to believe. What Morgan didn't know was within two hours after he completed his mission the Ring began emptying the largest of the accounts.

**Fulcrum Base**

Bryce was now ready to put another part of his plan into motion. He had gathered all the information he needed. To do this he dated and slept with a few analysts, who were more than happy to get him the information he needed. He now had the plans for the building that housed the Intersect computer. These plans included the alarm systems, air ducts and sewer system should he need to enter from below. He would make his move around the Fourth of July holiday when the staffing would be minimal.

**Grahams Office**

In two weeks he would have his Intersect up and running again. The new Intersect hosts were anxious to get the download and get back into the field. They had seen the results Bryce was getting and could not wait to use it. They were not the same as Bryce, but in the end power corrupts almost everyone. Graham selected the week after the holiday as the upload time frame.

**Volkoff's Plane**

Chuck got up from his seat next to his Mom and motioned for Sarah to follow him. Mary and White were sleeping and Hartley was looking at files on his laptop. He took her into a small cabin at the rear of the plane normally used by the planes staff. Sarah noticed Chuck seemed a bit off, nervous she guessed.

"Sarah, we need to talk."

_OH GOD she thought. Those are the three words nobody wants to hear. Nothing good ever comes from them._ She nodded her head and prepared herself for the worst.

"I know this may not be the best time for this discussion. We've been together for a while now." Chuck paused to catch his breath. _Why is this so hard?_ "I'm tired of going to your place or having to wait for you to get to mine. What I want to know is will you move in with me? Or I can move in with you, it doesn't matter as long as we're together." _There I said it._

Sarah was stunned, _will you move in with me,_ echoed around her head for a few seconds. She was trying to get her brain to accept what her ears had heard. She realized she had lost the ability to speak she was so happy. She did the next best thing and nodded.

"I'll take that as a yes?"

"Yes, yes I'll move in with you. My place is too small and you already have the secure office." She was on him in a second, her hands tearing at his clothes and his at hers. They were kissing with as much passion as they could. They had just removed each other's tops, when there was a loud knock at the door.

"Hey love birds," White's voice boomed through the door, "we're going to land in a few minutes to refuel. You need to get your asses out here and strap in," then he laughed.

Chuck looked at Sarah and spoke softly, "when we get home and things settle I promise we will finish this."

"You better mister. We have been holding back for too long. Now I understand why, but no more waiting after tonight. We're all in from this point on."

The couple picked up their clothes and got dressed. A few minutes later they entered the main cabin. White, looked up and nudged Mary, then pointed at Sarah and said, "You missed a button."

Sarah looked down and as soon as she did Mary broke out in fit of laughter. Sarah glared daggers at White, all he did was shrug his shoulders and say, "your too easy." Everyone took their seats and prepared for the landing.

**Echo Park**

Ellie had Devon sit down on one of the chairs in Chuck's office. She remained standing for a minute, and then began pacing the room as she spoke.

"Devon, there are a few things about what really goes on around here that I need to tell you. Big things, as in they can never be talked about anyplace other than this room or where are going after I say my piece."

"Babe you're scaring me. What could be so secret we can't talk about it except in certain places?"

"Funny you should say that. I'll start off small. I'm a Agent with the CIA."

"You're WHAT?" Devon was so shocked by this piece of information he jumped out of his chair.

"Please calm down and wait till I finish. If you have any questions, I will explain after I am done. I'm not a field agent per say, which means I don't go on missions very often. I'm the on call Doctor. I head a medical team that works on their agents that get injured on the job."

"That's not too bad, I think I can live with that. You still should have told me about it."

"No I couldn't and here's why. You know Chuck has been trying to locate our Mom and Dad right?"

"Sure, you want to know why they left."

"Actually that was all a lie. We knew where they were for the most part. Here's the part we didn't tell you, my Mom is an agent with the CIA. Twenty years ago she went on a mission and got trapped with no way out. The text I got earlier told me she was on her way home. Our best team of agents got her out yesterday. She is in route back home as we speak."

"That's great news Ellie. That's why you were crying after the message."

"Right Devon now let me continue. Sarah is also with the CIA. She is a field Agent. It's not like you see in the movies, all glamor and glitz. They do a lot of really bad things by most peoples standards so don't ask about her missions." She was ready to go on but Devon interrupted her again.

"Does Chuck know?" Devon blurted out. His head was starting to swim a bit by now. It was almost a bit too much to take in.

"He better, he's her boss and partner." Ellie noticed Devon's eyes had glazed over and he was starting to list to one side. She got him bottle of water, which he took.

"Chuck is one of a kind; in fact he is the only one of his kind. Chuck is not with the CIA; he is farther up the food chain than that. He belongs to a covert group in the CIA called the Sentinels. They are the best spies we know about. This is the best part; he is also an operative of Mossad."

This last bit was too much for Devon to handle. The thought that Ellie's goofy kid brother was a spy was one thing, but knowing he was part of Mossad sent him into the twilight zone and he fainted dead away. It took Ellie a few seconds to get Devon awake and several more to get him back to normal.

"Devon are you going to be ok?"

"I think so. I mean it's not every day you find out you girl is a spy, her brother and mom are spies and well almost everyone you know is a spy. Is there anyone I know that's not a spy?"

"Morgan isn't and that guy White isn't one either. Even though Chuck says White should be. I need to make a call about Mom, but I can't make it here. I want to see the General's face when I tell her the news; we need to go to the war room to do that."

"War Room? General? What the hell is going on here?" asked Devon more than a little panicked.

"It will take too long to explain to you here, so I'm going to show you. By the way, it was Chuck's idea to fill you in. I was quite happy leaving you in the dark. As the saying goes paybacks are a bitch."

"That I don't understand and really don't want to. I guess you should take me to the War Room."

It was the longest short ride of Devon's life. They pulled up in front of the ISA building where Chuck's business was located. Devon started to ask a question but a glare from Ellie cut him off. They entered the building and headed down to the War Room. To say Devon was impressed was an understatement. He was in awe of the scene he was looking at. Ellie walked up to Agent Sanders and spoke in a commanding voice.

"Agent Sanders, please get me General Beckman on the line, when that's done please get everyone out of the room, Chuck's orders."

"Yes Ma'am." Within minutes the room was empty except for Ellie and Devon. The General appeared on one of the large screens.

"Agent Bartowski what can I do for you?"

"Are you alone and secure?"

"Wait one." Ellie could hear the sounds of people moving about then a door shut, "Beckman alone and secure."

"The Information I am about to brief you on is way above you current clearance level. Director Smith has Ok'd you to hear this information. Upon completion of this briefing you are to report directly to him for a complete read in on the ISA and update your clearance. Is that understood General Beckman?"

General Beckman could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She was not used to being addressed like this by anyone, let alone a civilian who just happened to carry the title of Agent. Beckman had been in the intelligence business for a while and a few things that Ellie said made her pause before she said anything. What was the ISA really about and update her clearance. Something in the back of her mind told her she better listen and do as she was told. Who is this Director Smith she wondered?

Devon was even more confused than Beckman. Ellie walked into the place like she owned it and was talking to a General like she was a kid.

"I agree to those terms Agent Bartowski. Please proceed with your briefing."

"Before I get to the mission we just completed I will try and answer some questions you may have so fire away."

"I never head of a Director Smith. Who is he and what department does he run?

"Director Smith runs the covert group in the CIA known as the Sentinel's. He answers only to the President. Smith's best Agent is stationed here, Code Name, Ghost. I'm sure you have heard of him." Ellie watched as the General nodded her head before she went on.

"Here is the short version of the mission we just wrapped up. Some time ago we picked up some information on a lost CIA Agent, Code Name Frost. Twenty years ago Frost went undercover to take down Alexi Volkoff where she got trapped. Several months ago Ghost and his team went undercover into Volkoff industries with a plan to extract her. I am proud to tell you that as of yesterday afternoon the team we sent in secured Agent Frost. We also have Alexi Volkoff in custody. His system is being hacked by our best man. Once the hacker gets the codes broken the NSA will start getting all the data we have on Volkoff Industries."

General Beckman was absolutely stunned. They had been after Volkoff for fifteen years or more. Each time they tried to get inside they failed. This group of agents had done what no other agency had been able to do. Bring down Alexi Volkoff. She needed more information on the mission. While not being able to publicly recognize their achievement, a commendation could still go in their files.

"Ellie, can I have the names of the Agents who pulled off this impossible mission?"

"Yes Ma'am. You already know the agents but the person with no agency affiliation is a member of the armed forces, in fact you sent him here, Sergeant First Class White, United States Army. Sarah Walker, Special Agent of the CIA. The final name will come as a shock to you because you deal with him on a regular basis. He is Mossad and Sentinel Agent Chuck Bartowski AKA Ghost. If you need confirmation on Chuck ask Director Smith, he is expecting you after this briefing is over."

_The Ghost was Chuck. It couldn't be Chuck, it didn't make sense. I've dealt with him so often I lost count. She started looking back over time and like a light coming on it hit her. Each time she requested Ghost, Chuck would have to do a big job somewhere and come back almost right after the mission ended. Add to that he was part of Mossad. That goofy looking nerd that she saw over the video screen was one of the best agents out there? Damn._

"Is there anything else Agent Bartowski, if not I will head over to Smith's office for my read in."

"Two things General, First, do not mention the return of Frost to Graham. Her situation is still fluid and we want her secure before we let people know she is back. Second, Chuck requests immediate transfer orders for Sergeant White to the NSA and his promotion to Master Sergeant, effective today."

"Consider it done. I'll need to pull a few strings on the promotion but it will get done. Let Chuck know I will also put White in for a decoration for his part in the mission. To think that the sergeant I sent over a couple of months ago took part in one of the biggest intelligence coups ever boggles my mind. Wait till my people hear that. That's all I have. I better go see Smith."

"Good idea General, Bartowski out." The call ended when Ellie hit the button.

"That was awesome Babe!" gushed Devon. It had to be the wildest thing he had ever seen.

"There's a lot more to see, but I need to get the Agents back in here before we start." Ellie called the agents back and gave Devon the entire tour. He did have one question for Ellie.

"El, I have no idea about spies. Just how good are they?"

"That's a hard one to answer but I'll try. Sarah is one of the top Agents in the CIA, Chuck is about three levels above her. To put it in terms you can understand, my brother is the Wayne Gretzky of spies."

In two different places, one in the air and one on the ground the same thoughts were in everyone's mind. It won't be long now before our family is back together, and God help anyone that tries to get in the way.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Ellie finished giving Devon his tour of the ISA. He was most impressed by the medical facilities. He knew it would rival the best trauma centers in the country. Elli explained to him about the staffing as well. He was giving some thought to offering up his services as well. Once the tour was over they went home and tried to get some sleep before the plane carrying their family would arrive at LAX.

When the plane finally landed at LAX it was taken to a remote hanger well away from the normal private storage area. When the hanger doors closed the pilot was given the go ahead to open the planes door and let the passengers deplane. When the group exited the plane the saw a large motorcade composed of black SUV's with tinted windows. A heavily armed agent was standing by each vehicle. The second Mary hit the floor the doors on the second vehicle opened up and Ellie came running out, heading straight for her Mom. It wasn't long before another tear filled reunion took place. While Ellie and Mary were catching up Chuck and Sarah walked over to the agent in front of the lead car.

"Chuck Bartowski, Agent Walker, your rides are courtesy of General Beckman," stated the agent. I am to inform you that the General has received orders to report to the ISA for a visit. She will arrive in a few days."

"Thank you Agent. I'll gather the crew and you can take us home," Chuck informed the Agent.

After loading up the crew the large motorcade made its way to Echo Park. They dropped White of at his place because it was on the way. During the trip to Echo Park, Sarah and Mary convinced Hartley to stay at Sarah's place for the time being because she would be moving in with Chuck and no longer need it. The brief stop to drop Hartley off would give her a chance to pick up some things she would need. Mary would be staying at Ellie's of course.

The now re-united family spent several hours getting to know each other again. Within limits they exchanged war stories of their past they missed. Finally it was time for Chuck and Sarah to head home for some much needed sleep.

Back in their place they headed for the bedroom. Once there they began kissing and hugging each other. It wasn't driven by desire or lust but from love. They slowly removed each other's clothes, savoring the view as they were slowly visible to each other for the first time. Soon there was skin on skin contact and their desire grew into a flaming passion. This was the moment they had both been waiting for, the final expression of their love for each other. Their love making was slow and tender, each of them enjoying the feel of the other. It would take a while before they both drifted into a deep satisfied sleep.

They spent the next couple days moving Sarah's things into Chuck's apartment and getting back into a normal routine. After the last couple months away from the place she now called home, it was a welcome relief. Sarah also understood more about Chuck's required time off after missions. It was the first time since she became an agent that she felt this relaxed after returning from a mission. Knowing she would be on the sidelines for a few weeks allowed her to mentally decompress and get back into top physical shape. Of course she reasoned the night time activities that they finally began having might be helping as well.

She did regret one thing during the first couple days she started training again. They had gone to the ISA to file the final report on the Hartley mission and arrange for his release. After they completed that, Chuck went to the third floor to check on his business and Sarah went to work out. When she arrived in the gym White was working out on the heavy bag again. She was still a little riled up over what happened in Moscow and wanted to show White what a well-trained spy could do. Sarah decided it wouldn't be a challenge to spar with someone that just worked on boxing techniques since she was an expert at martial arts. White declined the offer at first but Sarah insisted. The sparring session began shortly after that. Sarah was landing blow after blow and kick after kick, most of which were blocked by Whites arms. He would respond with one or two hard shots to her upper arms. He soon doubled up the number off punches and began dodging her punches and kicks. At times it looked like a well-practiced dance. It wasn't long before Sarah felt her arms beginning to weaken and tire. She started using her legs more as the bout went on. White threw a weak right hand at her face and Sarah saw she had him lined up perfectly for a round house kick. Just as she started her kick in motion he stepped inside and hit her midsection with a couple of left hooks, followed up by a right upper cut that left her dazed.

White knew the condition of his opponent and backed off. "Ok you wore the old guy out. You happy now?" he said with a huff. He turned and headed to the locker room to get shower and change.

Sarah wasn't easily fooled; she knew exactly what had happened. He had accepted her challenge and won, and then allowed her to walk away with her head held high. To those watching in the Dojo, it looked like she had indeed won the bout because of the number of hits she had given out. Only she knew she had taken more punishment. Chuck was right again, this guy was special.

Chuck was seated in his office going over some files when Sarah walked in. He noticed she was moving like she was in a little pain. He motioned for her to sit down which she did.

"You alright?" asked Chuck.

"I will be in a few days."

"Care to explain what happened?"

"I went into the gym to work on the bag and White was in there killing it again. I guess I was still a bit mad about Moscow. I still felt like he showed us up back there. So I figured I'd show him what a spy could do." Sarah explained.

"You didn't?" an eyebrow rose up, "Crap you did."

"Yeah I did," she sighed. "We went into the Dojo and began to spar. I hit him with everything I had. He blocked most of them I think."

"Let me guess what happened next. He pounded your arms till they felt like lead weights. Then you went to more kicks."

"Right, how do you know?" she questioned. "Anyway I saw the opening I was looking for and made my move. He stepped inside and hit me with three punches. The first two literally took my breath away and the third knocked me silly."

"He did the same thing to me, only he knocked my ass out. I should have warned you."

"That wouldn't have mattered, I wanted a piece of him and I was going to get it. He surprised me by just backing off and said I wore him out. The Son of a Bitch barely broke a sweat. He let me save face in there by doing that."

"Yeah, he's like that. He says he hates being in the spotlight. He knew you knew you were finished and that was good enough for him."

"He has a weird way of fighting though. What sane person gets hit that many times before he fights back?"

"I asked him the same thing," stated Chuck, "He told me when he was younger he used to watch Joe Frazier fight. He would get hit three or four times for every punch he landed, but he could hit you twice as hard as you hit him."

"Well he's right about that. I can't remember ever being hit that hard before."

"Neither had I before we spared. It's time to pick the General up at the airport and show her around."

As they were walking through the War Room they were joined by White. "Do you guys mind if I tag along? It seems the General requested all of us."

"No problem, White," answered Sarah as they headed to the door. She did a double take after looking at what he was wearing. She lowered her voice and said, "Thanks for in there," motioning to the Dojo with her head.

"It's cool, you kicked my ass and they needed to know it." Sarah shook her head at his remark and let it drop.

The General arrived shortly after they arrived at the airport. She immediately spotted Chuck and Sarah who were dressed in what could be described as business casual. The third member of the party was another story altogether. The General was flabbergasted at the way her new agent looked.

"Sergeant White, why the hell are you dressed like that?"

"Like what?" he did indeed look confused.

"Do you think that Cut off jean shorts, flip flops and a tee shirt that says, "I ain't broke", is an appropriate way to dress for a meeting?"

"Sorry Ma'am just trying to blend in with the locals."

The General was leading the way to the baggage claim area as the rest followed. White who was trailing behind and in a voice loud enough for Beckman to hear turned to Chuck and Sarah and giving them a sly wink said, "Good thing I didn't tell her I went commando today." They could swear they heard the Generals jaw hitting the floor.

Once they got Beckman settled in her hotel they made their way back to the ISA. They gave the General the ten dollar tour starting with the third floor. She was mildly shocked when Chuck explained that his business was indeed legitimate and very profitable. He really did sell and install sate of the art security systems. For that reason Beckman didn't recognize anyone on the third floor. When they entered the second floor the explanations continued. It was used by the analysts to filter through the tons of intelligence they gathered and pass it on the agents on the first floor. The final stop on the tour was the first floor and the War Room. He explained in great detail, leaving out the fact that they _stole_ data from all the agencies, before they eventually ended up in Chuck's office. After eating the food Chuck had delivered just before they arrived, they filled her in on the day to day operations and how things worked.

"You have a very well-run operation here. I dare say it functions more effectively than some of my own departments. I have some good news for you, Sergeant White. Effective today, you will be Master Sergeant White, TDA to the NSA and assigned to Chuck."

"Thank you Ma'am. I'll do my best to uphold the traditions of the Army."

"I do expect you dress more appropriately than you are now."

"With all due respect Ma'am, that's nuts. Sarah once told me I'm not a spy. She was right, I'm not and don't know how to be one. Maybe I'll learn," He said with a shrug of his shoulders, "who knows? What I do know is how to do blend in with the local populace. If you see me walking down the street dressed like this you just see an old guy trying to be young again or a whack job and forget about me. If you see me wearing a three piece tailored suit or dress clothes you think I may be someone important so you pay a little more attention to me the next time you see me."

"Very well, if Chuck doesn't have a problem with how you dress while at work it's alright with me, you're his problem now. Moving onto another important matter," she paused and looked at White and asked, "Is he cleared?"

"This is my stop General, I'll leave you secret squirrel types to talk behind my back," and he left the room.

"Is he always like that?" asked a confused General. Chuck and Sarah were grinning from ear to ear. Twice in one day White had managed to shock the General.

"Pretty much," answered Sarah. Between Chuck and Sarah they filled the General in on the complete operation except the Intersect, both of them.

Morgan was getting restless; he felt he had waited long enough to see Chuck. Chuck and the she devil had been home for a few days now and he wanted to tell chuck his good news. His problem was the she devil never left his side. Today he got his chance. He was camped out in his usual spot when he saw Sarah leave the building with an older guy. She was laughing at something he said and was leaning up against him as well. He snapped off a few pictures to add to the collection of Sarah cheating on Chuck. Chuck appeared soon after Sarah and the older gentleman left the parking lot and headed towards his place. Morgan followed right behind him in the new car he bought with his CIA paycheck. Morgan waited a few minutes after Chuck went into his place before knocking on the door. Chuck opened the door and let Morgan in.

"This is a surprise Morgan. What brings you to my humble abode?"

"I have bad news for you Chuck. Sarah is cheating on you and I have proof." He tossed an envelope on the table and motioned for Chuck to look at the picture in it. Sure enough there were lots of pictures with Sarah and other guys. "I just took these now, seems she doesn't care how old the guys are." He showed Chuck the pictures on his phone he just took.

"What the heck Morgan!" Chuck shouted. "Why the hell have you been following Sarah around?"

"She's no good for you man, trust me I know women. She's going to break your heart."

"You know women?" Chuck snorted derisively at Morgan's comment. "This is coming from a man that hasn't had a serious relationship in his entire life. Explain exactly how exactly she is going to break my heart?"

"Are you blind or just stupid Chuck?" Morgan snapped at Chuck. "You saw the pictures dude. What more do you need?"

Just then the door opened up and Sarah walked in and headed straight to the table they were sitting at.

"Hello Morgan, how…" She stopped in the middle of her sentence when she saw the pictures on the table. "What are these?"

"Those are pictures of you cheating on my best friend. I even have some new ones of you and that old guy you were with today."

Chuck and Sarah were fast approaching the 'I'm going to kill him stage', well Chuck was. Sarah was leaning more towards the, 'I'll cripple him stage'. She figured he was already useless from the neck up. Sarah wanted to know why he was following her. She was not going to waste any time in getting her answers and pulled a knife from its hiding spot on her thigh and stabbed one of the pictures with it.

"Now Morgan," she growled, "tell me exactly why you are following me?"

"You want to know, fine I'll tell you," he growled back. "A while back I was going to the burger place I like and you were all lovey dovey with this long haired freak," he was pointing to the picture of Chuck in his Goth gear. "Once I knew you were cheating on him I followed you. Now I do it as part of my job."

"Your Job? Since when does the Buy More have people followed?" inquired Chuck.

"Not the Buy More Chuck, I quit that job a few months ago. I got a better offer, a much better offer."

"Why don't you explain it to us then maybe we'll all understand why you are following me?"

"A few months ago I went to the arcade to clear my thoughts and go over what you two said in the Buy More that day. I was killing some zombies and I met this guy. We started hanging out and he offered me a job. I did some training with him and got my badge. Chuck, you may not believe me, but I work for the CIA." He pulled out the wallet that contained his badge and identification card.

Chuck was taking a sip of his drink when Morgan made his claim did a spit take. Sarah almost fell off her chair. They quickly put Morgan's following Sarah on the back burner. She snatched the wallet out of his hand and carefully looked it over. Then she passed it to Chuck, who did the same. Now it was Chuck's turn to talk.

"Morgan, do you think it's a good idea to tell people you work for the CIA? I don't know a whole lot about the spy business but it can't be good to let people know what you do."

"Chuck it's only you, who are you going to tell?"

"Morgan, Chuck's right if you do work for the CIA you should keep it quiet," added Sarah. _We need more information she thought. This should be easy, we would know if Morgan was with the CIA._ "For all you know we could be spies for the other side and you just gave yourself away. Either way it sounds like you grew up, just like Chuck told you to. So where do you work from?"

"We work in an office downtown. When I'm not on missions I do some training and play video games. I can't tell you much more. Shaw said I could only tell you I worked for him. He did tell me to ask Chuck if he wanted to join us."

"Morgan, why the hell would I want to do that? I have my own company to run, I can't be running around playing James Bond."

"Chuck, think it over please? We can travel the world together taking down bad guys. We can be together again like before." Morgan paused for a second pretending to think about something. "I have a better idea! Hire me to work with you; I'm sure I'd be able to get you the latest and greatest toys that could help your company."

"I'll think about it. Now you better head home, Sarah and I are going to dinner at Ellie's."

"I'll see you later then. Tell Ellie I said hello and miss her cooking. Remember to think it over Chuck. It could be an opportunity of a life time."

"I will Morgan, take care and try to keep your job a secret." Moments later Morgan was gone and Sarah and Chuck were locked in his office making a call to the ISA.

"Sanders here Chuck what do you need?"

"I need all the information you have on Morgan Grimes. I'm sending his picture now, run it through all the facial recognition programs we have. Also do a check on any agents with the name of Shaw, cover or otherwise. I need the information like yesterday."

"You got it boss. I'll text you if we get any hits on the names."

"Thanks Sanders, Chuck out."

Turning to Sarah all he could say was, "That sucked."

"I noticed you didn't flash on him, so what's our next step?" she asked.

"Honestly," he sighed, "I have no idea. The intersect doesn't have anything on either of them. That worries me a bit, but the system is not perfect and things slip through."

"I suggest we go to Ellie's and eat, then worry about it in the morning."

"Sarah, I like your plan." He pulled her in for a deep kiss. After the kiss broke due to lack of oxygen Chuck mused, "I wonder what Ellie is making for dinner?"

**AN2: Keep in mind that in this story Sarah's red test did not take place. She was benched during the time it happened in canon. Like I said in the beginning, a small change in the past can have a big effect on the future. If you feel like it hit the button that says review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews! I am glad you guys are enjoying this story. The plot thickens again. Reviews good or bad are welcome. My thanks go to wilf he/she caught a small fact I missed when I fixed this. The dates start in 06, it should have been 05. Why is this important? Because in an AN I said Sarah's red test never happened, that took place in 05. Had I left it in 06 well….Regular disclaimers apply.**

Chapter 15

The next few days went by in a blur for the new couple because of all the moving they had to do. They finally got Sarah moved in to Chucks place and they called it home. Stephen contacted Mary and arranged a secure place for them to meet. Mary departed soon after she got back to meet with Orion and promised she would be back in touch after she got re-acquainted with her husband. She figured it may take a month or more, they had a lot to catch up on.

Just as Chuck and Sarah feared nothing turned up on Morgan. Chuck assigned one of his best agents to do surveillance on Morgan. They did have some luck with the other name, Shaw popped up twice, one of them was male and the other one was female. Both were currently employed by the CIA. Daniel Shaw was on extended leave from the agency for medical reasons. His ex-wife Evelyn was currently at the farm as an instructor. They ruled out Evelyn as Morgan's partner. When the names popped up Sarah remembered working with Eve when she first started with the agency. She had been introduced to Daniel and soon found out he was a total ass. She remembered telling Eve she could do better than the idiot she picked.

**July 2006**

The day Bryce planned to steal the intersect had finally arrived. Under the cover of darkness Bryce entered the Intersect building. By-passing all of the security with the help of the building layout he had acquired he was slowly making his way through the Intersect building to the server that held all the data. The information he had acquired from the analysts was letter perfect. With the acquired data and the information in his head he made quick work of all the security features. He entered the room and started the download to his PDA. The one thing Bryce didn't know was the NSA had just installed some new cameras in the room. He was being filmed as he worked. He wasn't paying as much attention as he should have been and tripped a silent alarm. When he did notice a strange light on the panel and prepared to leave. He planted the explosives he decided to bring at the last minute. There was no way he was going to let Graham make more intersects, he was the only one and it would stay that way.

The download completed and he started phase two of his plan he was just about to hit the send button when shots rang out. He was grazed on the left arm before he could return fire. Once he took care of the agents he sent the e-mail and made his escape. In his haste he dropped the device he was carrying, when it hit the ground it triggered the auto destruct sequence, which fried the core memory. When he finally cleared the building he activated the explosives and watched as a major portion of the Intersect building collapsed. He would return to Fulcrum a hero for dealing such a damaging blow to the CIA and NSA.

At almost the same time General Beckman and Graham were informed of the damage done to the Intersect building. The Directors immediately went to the scene and what they found shocked them. The entire complex was a pile of smoldering rubble. Beckman called in her go to Agent Major John Casey, and told him to meet her there. Graham decided to remain alone until he could assess the damage. Even though they arrived at different times it was not a big deal. They would have to wait until the area was deemed safe. Casey who had arrived and had a chance to speak with the agents already at the scene was handed the PDA. When Beckman finally arrived Casey handed her the destroyed device.

"General," Casey began, "the hard drive was fried but we managed to pick up a trace signal. Our techs are pinpointing the location as we speak."

"Very good Major…" her phone rang and she answered it, "Beckman secure."

"General, we intercepted a signal from the Intersect room a few hours ago. We tracked down the IP address of where it was sent. The data was sent to a Chuck Bartowski in Echo Park." Hearing that name after what she knew about Chuck almost caused her to suck in a breath. "One last thing General, the video footage is mostly destroyed but we did get a shot of the person responsible for the damages."

"Don't keep us waiting, can you identify the person responsible"

"Yes Ma'am, it was Bryce Larkin."

"Thank you agent I'll pass on the information to Major Casey."

"What do you have Diane?" asked Graham.

"Your Agent Bryce Larkin stole the Intersect and destroyed the intersect facility. He sent it to someone in Echo Park. I need to head to my office and put together a plan to get it back. Casey, your with me," they were gone in the blink of an eye.

**Beckman's office**

"Major Casey, I need you to head to Echo Park and poke around. The intersect went to a Mr. Chuck Bartowski. When you get there wait for further instructions from me on how to proceed. Do not approach the subject until you get clearance from me. John, I need you to be careful when you get there. Things may not be as they seem." _Please John, don't be yourself, all you'll get is dead._

Making a small grunt, he told the General, "Yes Ma'am. I'll notify you when I arrive. Will that be all?" _The day I wait to approach a civilian is the day they put me in the ground. If he does have it, it will be a piece of cake to get it back. _

"Yes, remember Major be careful." Casey responded with a grunt. _Right…_

**Graham's office later the same night**

Graham picked up his phone and dialed the number of one of his best agents.

"Walker Secure"

"Sarah we have a problem, Larkin broke into the Intersect building and stole the Intersect. He sent it to someone in Echo Park."

"Sir, what does that have to do with me?"

"The NSA traced the signal from his PDA, he sent it to someone he knows, Chuck Bartowski. They were friends and roomed together in college. Even though he runs the ISA and handles agents, I think Chuck may be giving Bryce information to pass on to Fulcrum. I need you to keep an eye on him for now. Beckman will probably send Casey. If you uncover evidence that the mark is passing information he is to be terminated." The longer Graham went on the harder it was for her not to roll her eyes. When he accused Chuck of passing on information she almost broke out laughing.

"I'll keep a close eye on him Sir. Walker Out." When the call ended she rolled over and snuggled back into Chuck.

Graham was now in panic mode. Larkin could no longer be considered an agent for the CIA. He had indeed turned to Fulcrum. That was bad enough, but to add insult to injury, the only person that stood a chance to bring him in was on another team with another agency. That in itself was bad enough, but the thought that the person that ran the entire operation was also Fulcrum scared the shit out of him. All of his finely crafted plans were in the toilet and circling the drain. Several of the CIA's better agents and as of yet an undetermined number of civilians had died because of his decision to make the Intersect Bryce Larkin when he knew Bryce was loose cannon. There was no way he would now get the position as head of the DNI. Hell he'd be lucky to keep his job. He had to hope he got to keep his life.

**Echo Park**

Chuck and Sarah had just woken up and were going about their morning routine. Chuck went to his office and opened up his public e-mail account. The first thing he noticed was he had an e-mail from Bryce. He yelled to Sarah to hurry up and join him. Once she was there he showed her the e-mail.

"I guess that fits in with the call I got last night. Graham called me with the news Bryce stole the intersect. The NSA traced it and found out he sent it to you. He wants me to keep an eye on you, a close eye by the way. Then he said the funniest thing, 'if the mark is passing information, terminate him'." She then moved in for her morning kisses.

"Well that's a good thing to know. But terminate me? That is funny," Chuck openly chuckled at that. "If I do open it and it is the Intersect it is most likely the old version and would probably cause me trouble. I will have my technicians check it out before I open it. I already called it in and they are doing it remotely as we speak. I should have an answer soon."

"I'll go start breakfast while you wait."

"I'll be there in a minute." It was several minutes before Chuck got his reply. Bryce sent him the Intersect. Now he just had to figure why? He went into the kitchen to eat breakfast and tell Sarah what the techs found.

"Sarah, Bryce did send me the Intersect, and like I thought it's the old version. Can you think of a reason why?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe he's trying to get back at you for some reason?"

"That could be. I wonder if it has to do with me keeping from you becoming his partner. We did think that he was having a bad time with the Intersect."

"True, but enough about Bryce, what do you have planned for the day?"

"I want to head over to the Large Mart and pick up a few things we need, other than that not much." At the Large Mart Chuck flashed on a guy know to be an explosives expert. He filed it away for future use.

Later that day while they were hanging out with Ellie and Devon, they made plans to go to a club on a double date. It was supposed to be a fun night filled with dancing and raising hell and it was until Casey and a few other Agents showed up at the club. Casey and his crew began advancing towards the group. Sarah nudged Chuck to alert him about the situation.

"Let's see what Casey wants before this gets out of hand," Sarah suggested. Chuck took her hand and walked over to where Casey was.

"Casey"

"Walker"

"Let's take this outside where we can talk, leave the goons here," offered Chuck.

"Who's that Walker? As for the goons, they go where I go so deal with it."

"He's my boyfriend, where I go he goes. Deal?" Casey nodded in agreement and made his way to the door. Chuck explained to Ellie what was going on and headed out with Sarah. Outside the meeting started.

"Walker, we have information that your boyfriend may have received some valuable Government information, we would like it back."

"Sorry Casey that's not going to happen. The information was destroyed before I could look at it," said Chuck.

"I don't really care; I'm supposed to bring you in." Casey said while drawing his gun. His men followed suit. This lead to Sarah drawing her weapon as Chucked just watched. _No need to blow my cover for this dumb shit._

"Casey I got him first so he stays with me," stated Sarah. Casey blinked a few times and slumped to the ground. Sarah noticed that his men were also on the ground. Standing behind them tranq gun in hand was White. Sarah raised her eyebrow looking for an answer.

"These guys were poking around you place earlier today," he said with a shrug. "I saw them when I stopped by to see Devon about a white water rafting trip he is planning. When you left they followed you. I figured they were agents but didn't know if they were the good or bad kind, so I followed them. When the guns were drawn I decided to intervene on your behalf."

"You do realize you just tranqed a group of federal agents," Sarah asked.

"Better to be tried by twelve than carried by six," again a shrug. _Man, Sarah thought, this nut doesn't care much about anything other than keeping us safe._ "At first I thought they might be asking for your help to guard the General that's speaking at the hotel tonight. Guess I was wrong."

"What General?" asked Chuck.

"Stienman, Seinfeld or something like that. He's talking at some conference downtown."

"Now the guy I saw in the Large Mart makes sense. Sarah we've got to go. I know what's going on, I'll explain in the car."

"You two go do your secret squirrel thing and I'll wait for the sleeping beauties to wake up," White called to the two spies that were running towards the car.

**Hotel**

It would only take a few minutes to get to the hotel. Once there they got there they went right to the hall where the speeches were being given. Scanning the room they noticed an un-attended food cart sitting near the stage. They rushed over to it and found the bomb they were really not hoping to find. There was a large amount of explosive material tied into a prism express laptop.

"You have any idea on how to defuse that thing?" she said while tapping the side of her head.

"Nothing up here," he tapped his head, "but I do have an idea."

"Well get on with it we only have about 3 minutes before we're nothing but a fine red mist." Sarah watched as Chuck opened the browser and typed in the magic words.

"You're using porn to defuse a bomb? Really Chuck?"

"Looks like it doesn't it?" he laughed. "I was at the Buy More the other day and overheard greasy and light socket talking about some virus that was going around. I think it was called the Demova virus or something. This laptop was the most susceptible to it. They were getting a rush of ruined laptops. Seems like a boat load of people like this Chick." The entire time he was talking he was clicking on various links. Once he got the right link the screen began to flash and the computer died. There were just a few seconds left.

"Nice work Chuck. But how did you know it would work?"

"I didn't but it seemed to be our only option. We need to call this in and see how Casey is."

**Alley behind the club**

Major Casey and his team were just starting to come around. The first thing Casey noticed was a guy standing over him with an amused look on his face.

"I see you and your boys had a bit too much to drink tonight. When I found you, the bunch of you was piled up all over each other like puppies looking for a teat."

"Yeah must have been the scotch that got us." Casey was still trying to clear his head as were his men when he noticed his distinct lack of clothing. His men were in the same condition he was. "What the Fuck!"

"Dude," replied White holding up his hands in the, 'I don't know position'. "Don't ask me. I found you dudes like that. I figured it was a strange place to have an orgy but hey what do I know. I would suggest the next time you all get frisky; you go to a hotel or something."

"That's not what we were doing for heaven's sake."

The stranger just shook his head and said, "Makes no difference to me. You men have a good night. I was just hanging around until you came to. Good night gentlemen, and have fun later," this was said with a wink. The grunt Casey let out could be heard in Texas.

**Chuck and Sarah's place**

White decided to stop by Chuck and Sarah's place to find out what the heck was going on. Sarah answered the door and led him to the secure room.

"So boss what was the visit for tonight? You guys seemed to know each other."

"Last night, Bryce Larkin, a former CIA agent broke into a secure Government building and stole a program known as the Intersect. They think he sent it to me. So they came to get it back."

"Huh, makes no sense to me. Why didn't the General just call and ask you?"

"In this business lying is part of the game. So she had to send someone to check me out."

"Well night then, see you love birds in the morning. One more thing," White pulled a SD card from his pocket and handed it to Chuck with a wink. "You may need this in the future."

As he was leaving Chuck put the SD card in the computer and looked at the pictures on it. On the screen were pictures of Casey and the other agents all naked except for their shorts, piled all over each other. Their screams of WHITE echoed around the complex. When they finally stopped laughing, Chuck moved closer to Sarah and whispered, "love bird's ehh? Sounds good to me." within minutes they returned to their bed room to prove him right.

The Big Three as they were now known as were standing in Chuck office when General Beckman made an early call to Chuck. She wanted to see if he made Contact with Casey. Chuck explained the events of the previous night. With a rogue CIA Agent with a working Intersect aligned with Fulcrum she wanted his help. She explained that Fulcrum was growing bigger and more powerful every day.

"General we would be glad to help you take down Fulcrum. Do you have a team in mind or should I put one together?"

"Chuck, I gave Casey orders to observe you nothing more. Despite this unfortunate incident, I want Major Casey on the team. You can pick anyone else you like. I know you have to keep the fact you're Ghost under wraps, but do try to keep my agent in one piece. He can be a bit rough."

"No problem General. Chuck out."

"Looks like you guys have a mission, so I'm going to head to the gym while you guys make the plans. Holler if you need me." White said as he got up to leave.

"Sit your ass down White," said Sarah. "You're part of this team as well. When Casey gets here we can work on it together."

"Sure but I want to make one thing clear. You know I'm not a spy and don't think like one either. So you folks will have to cut me some slack until I get used to how you guys work."

"You may not have the training we do, but you already think like one. That move you did last night was brilliant. Using the tranq's was a good idea," commented Chuck.

"Well I don't like guns or violence so it seemed like a good idea to me." Chuck and Sarah both rolled their eyes at this. Chuck's office phone rang; it was the desk at the main door informing him Casey had arrived. Chuck had him escorted down.

Casey was escorted by Agent Sanders to Chuck's office. Chuck and Sarah were standing waiting for him and a third person was sitting with his back to the door playing with his phone. Sarah began the introductions.

"Major Casey, NSA this is Chuck Bartowski CIA handler for the agents you passed by out front. The gentleman at the desk," this caused White to turn around. With a full blown grin he interrupted Sarah. Sarah and Chuck had the same thought _this can't end well._

"Well I'll be damned, Major Casey it _was_ you in that dog pile last night? Don't worry your secrets safe with me."

"Look you moron, I told you last night it wasn't what it looked like." _What fresh hell is this I walked into?_

"Major, I understand don't ask don't tell, but when I see a bunch of half-naked men in a pile it does tend to make me wonder."

"Major Casey this is Master Sergeant White, Army, TDA to the NSA and part of the team you will be working with. The remaining members of the team are Chuck and I. You have any questions?"

"Beckman gave me a back brief on my way over. I know why I'm here, Beckman requested me. I also know why the two of you are here," pointing at Chuck and Sarah, "what I can't figure out is why White is here? I never heard of him and I know most of our top agents. No offense Mater Sergeant, but this isn't the type of mission to cut your spy teeth on."

Sarah noticed White was about to respond and by the look on his face it wouldn't be pretty, so she jumped in,

"Casey, I'm sure you heard from Beckman about us taking down Volkoff?"

"Sure, it was the talk of the NSA for weeks."

"White was part of the team that brought Volkoff down, in fact his plan might have saved the entire mission. I think his teeth are already cut."

All Casey did was grunt.

The briefing was over soon and the Major left the office to get his badge that would allow him access to the building. While Casey was gone White had a few questions of his own. "Is the mission to find Larkin a kill on sight or catch and restrain?

"For now consider it a capture mission unless it's necessary to kill him," stated Chuck.

"Good, now on the Fulcrum front, same rules?"

"Play it by ear. Use your best judgment on what the situation calls for."

"Awesome, well if that's all I'll be in the gym." With that he left. Sarah turned to Chuck and said, "That is one crazy bastard."

"I'm just glad he's leaving us alone. Is nothing sacred to him?"

"I guess not. Casey will be back soon and we can talk to Beckman. What do we do about Graham?" asked Sarah.

"For now nothing, we work with him until we get Larkin then sever all ties. I have a feeling it will take care of itself in time."

Casey returned and the team started working on a plan to find Larkin and bring down Fulcrum.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Once again thanks for the reviews. Now for some bad news, I have been pumping the chapters out fairly quickly until now. Most of the previous ones didn't need much work, maybe 500 words average I think. Most from here on out sucked, so it may take a day longer than it does now. Well enjoy and please review, I like em, hehehe.**

**AN2: There is a pretty violent fight scene near the end of this chapter, so if you don't want to read it, skip it. It happens after they leave the club.**

Chapter 16

The days following the Intersect fiasco were taxing for the newly formed team. Casey was having the hardest time of all, his having to deal with Chuck. He never did get along with civilians that well, especially the analysts. And this analyst, despite how many agents seemed to answer to him, was in charge of the whole thing. Then he had to deal with White, who seemed to be able to get under his skin like an itch you can't scratch. He knew it could have been worse but White had hardly been around, claiming they didn't need him for the planning portion. He told Casey that he just follows orders and when they came up with a plan to let him know.

White was jogging along a running trail at Balboa Park. It was good for him to get away from the city for a while. He wasn't used to all the hustle and bustle of a bigger city. Plus working in the tomb they called an office sucked. He really wished they had left at least one window on the first floor. He was starting his fourth mile when he felt his phone vibrate. Without looking at who was calling he answered breathing heavy as he did.

"Your dime my time, what do you need?"

"Beckman secure. Is that how you answer your phone?"

"Sorry General, I'm out running and I didn't check to see who was calling. I'm alone but in public."

"It seems the Department of the Army requests your presence on a special operations team. I'm sorry but there was nothing I could do to stop the transfer. The unit deploying to Afghanistan in a few weeks for a special operation and they need a good communications NCO and you're it. I have already informed the ISA. There is a flight waiting for you at a private air field. It will leave when you get there."

"Ma'am, I respectfully request permission the say goodbye to my former team before I leave."

"Permission granted Sergeant. Have a safe trip and happy hunting, Beckman out."

White finished his last mile and headed back to his place to shower and change. When he finished cleaning up after his run, he packed up his few personal items, donned his uniform and went to the ISA. Clipping his badge on for what he figured to be the last time, he headed to the War Room in search of his former partners. The AIC pointed him towards Chuck's office. He knocked on the door and waited for the call to enter. The three agents were still going over there plans to draw out Bryce.

"Sergeant White, good luck over there. Kill a few of those bastards for me," said Casey holding out his hand. White took his hand and shook it. It was one warrior wishing a fellow warrior luck before a battle. Chuck was the next to say goodbye.

"We didn't work together very long but you are one of the best I ever had the pleasure of working with. Looking back on our mission to retrieve my Mom, it was your plan that allowed it. I now owe you twice. If you ever need anything call me on this phone. It will work anywhere in the world. Good luck Agent White."

They shook hands and White put the phone in his pocket and moved in Sarah's direction. She moved towards him and instead of shaking his hand she gave him a big hug.

"When I first read your file I thought they were nuts for sending you here; when I met you I knew they were nuts, and so were you. Then we worked together and I saw who you really are. You keep saying you're not a spy and your right, you're better. You rescued a man you didn't know and took a bullet keeping that man safe. You saved an entire mission to save someone's mother. It's not just a job to you Agent White; it's a way of life. Thank you again for what you did years ago. Stay safe over there. I will make sure you find yourself back here when your tour is over." She hugged him again and left the room. It was the most Chuck could remember her saying to anyone that was not family.

"Thanks guys, I really enjoyed my time here. I'm sure our paths will cross again. It's a small world after all." He turned on his heels and left the ISA turning his badge in along the way.

Chuck knew where Sarah would be. When she felt stressed she would often go to the quiet room for some alone time. She was seated in her normal spot staring at the wall. He walked over to her and held her in his arms.

"I'm sorry Chuck but it's just not fair," Chuck could see the remains of the tears that had run down her cheek. "He has given so much and asked for so little in return. He was a great addition to the team. I know Casey will be a good addition but he's no White."

"Sarah, just like us he chose his life. He's damn good at it too. You don't get all those medals by being a dud. When he says our paths will cross again I believe him. This is the second time I crossed his path and I'm convinced there will be another."

"I hope your right. I looked at his orders when they came in. He's being attached to a special forces unit." She paused for a few minutes to gather her thoughts and calm down a bit. "I'm done for the day. It never bothered me when I switched partners before. Since I met you my life has changed in a big way mostly because of you. White had a small part in it as well. I just need to go home and relax in front of the TV. Do you want to join me?"

"I'll tell Casey we're leaving for the day and he has the office. He can assign the agents for a few days. It will give me a break." They held each other for a few more minutes before they left.

**CIA training facility aka the farm**

Evelyn Shaw was sitting at her desk between classes. She requested time off from the field to get her life together after her divorce from her toad of an ex-husband. He left her ass for dead during a mission they were on in Germany. There had been an explosion and she got caught in it. She was rushed Landstuhl Medical Center for treatment. It was there that she met the love of her life. She had been slightly disfigured by the explosion. He had been injured in Iraq and was there recovering as well. They began to talk in the day room about the shows on AFN. That led them to talking about their past and other things they never shared with anyone. He didn't care if her face was messed up, he liked her for her. Over the next few months they began to build a strong friendship. He left to go back to his unit while she continued her rehabilitation. She would need reconstructive surgery on her face and chest. She was thankful the CIA had the best plastic surgeons in the world working for them. She was reading some gossip magazine when she found her new look. Her new man would be pleased.

Her secure phone rang but she didn't recognize the number.

"Evelyn Shaw speaking how can I help you?"

"Hey babe it's me! How are you doing today beautiful?"

"Just fine hun and you?"

"Hanging tough as we say, listen, I need a favor and if you agree I'll get it cleared."

"What do you need?" he explained the favor and she agreed. Later that day she was told her mission was a go then she would return here to the Farm. For Evelyn Shaw life was finally good.

**Echo Park**

The next few weeks went by at a snail's pace. They were no closer to finding Larkin or the Fulcrum base he operated out of than they were weeks ago. They started to rework their plans when an e-mail came in to Chuck.

It was from White: Tell everyone I'm fine. The internet sucks over here, lol. I have an idea on how to lure Larkin out of hiding. _I used a contact I have that's good at hacking into things. I set up a meeting for an Agent White of the NSA to meet Larkin in three days. He wants to join Fulcrum. No I won't be there, lol. There will be somebody there however, she is a civilian. Picture Jenny McCarthy with long hair. If Bryce is as big a pig as you said he was, he'll be all over her waiting for White to show. She will excuse herself and leave. All your people need to do is follow him. The meet is scheduled at the White Dog Café, 34__th__ and Samson St. Philadelphia in three days at noon. Good luck. MSG White. P.S. like the name of the place! Tell Casey I'm up 7-0._

Chuck was stunned by this turn of events. They had come up with some good plans, but none of them seemed likely to get results. It didn't help of course that they had rejected any plan that used one of them as bait. The location of the meet was a big plus. Philadelphia was located far away from where they were operating. They figured Larkin was probably keeping an eye on Sarah and they still had to worry about what Shaw was doing. If they were on the same side it could ruin theirs plans quickly. He printed a copy and handed it to his partners who read it over.

"Son of a Bitch," mumbled Sarah. "All the way from the Stan and he still comes up with a way to help. Damn that man is good."

"Chuck I know it sounds good, but can White really be trusted?" asked Casey who was playing devil's advocate.

Chuck moved with quickness and speed Sarah had never seen him use before. Chucks eyes had turned completely black and his face was hard as steel. She knew the second it happened that she was looking at Ghost, one of the most feared agents in the world. Casey's face was planted on the table he was sitting at and Chuck hand was holding it there. Chuck had a knife poised at his throat. Chuck bent over and put his mouth near Casey's ear and spoke in a voice so cold it could freeze Hell.

"Choose your words wisely from now on Major. If I hear one more negative comment about White from you again, it will be the last comment you ever make." He pushed the knife deep enough to draw a trickle of blood from Casey's neck. "Did I make myself clear Casey?"

Casey was in complete shock by what was going on. His thoughts were all over the place. In that single moment I knew what it meant to see your life flash before your eyes. All he could do as grunt his answer.

"Now get the hell out of here before I do something I don't want to do." Chuck released his hold on Casey and moved away. Casey didn't need to be told twice and left as fast as he could.

Within seconds Chuck's face and eyes returned to normal and his breathing slowed down. Sarah went over and took his hand and led him to the couch where she pulled him into a hug to offer what comfort she could. She knew Casey had just crossed a line that he didn't even know about. She also knew he would never make that mistake again.

Casey wandered around the War Room wondering what just happened. He was told Chuck was just a handler who sometimes went on missions for support. After what just happened he knew the type of support Chuck was capable of. It was the kind you didn't give by staying in the van. Chuck's eyes scared him the most. He had never seen eyes turn that dark before, like Chuck was looking into his soul. He felt like he was looking into the eyes of the devil himself, maybe he was.

**Fulcrum base**

Bryce just received some good news via e-mail from a contact in the NSA. Another agent was ready to turn. The best part was he didn't need to fear a trap. The team that was looking for him was in California and the meet was in Philly. He would meet this agent and get him started. His plans were almost complete. After he recruited White he would take out Graham and Fulcrum's agent, Bob Marshall, would take his place. If all went well, and it looked that way, within a month the CIA would be under the control of Fulcrum.

**Shaw's office**

Shaw had been keeping a close eye on Agent Walker through Morgan. The little man was working out better than he had hoped. He had her entire schedule figured out down to the minute. The only problem was she was never alone. Her boyfriend was always there. If he wasn't it was Major Casey. He really didn't care. He had a trump card up his sleeve. He had been giving Graham a bunch of information on the Ring so it looked like he was the Ring expert. When Fulcrum fell and it would, he would then be put with the best team of agents out there to take down the next big threat, the ring. He would soon be teamed with Sarah Walker, the bitch who convinced his wife to leave him. He would pay her back with interest, even if it killed her.

**Secure location (unknown)**

A solitary figured walked down the deserted halls of the decrepit looking building. Locating the secret access door and taking a set of hidden stairs downward he entered a darkened room and faced towards the front. He stood in front of the table that had several figures sitting behind it. Two were male and two were female. He was the first to speak.

"Frost, Orion, Beckman and Smith, now that I'm here what do you need?" his voice was cold and threatening. There was no need for formalities at these meetings. He was here to get his targets not make friends.

"Gabriel we have a few pests that need exterminating," two files were tossed on the table in front of him by the panel's newest member, General Beckman. He opened each one and looked tem over.

"When do you need the pests removed?"

Frost was the one to answer, "The top file needs to be handled first, then the second one. We need it done soon, within the week if possible."

"Consider it done. Then I'm going home for a while. Frost you understand, don't you?" He turned from the people in front of him and left the room.

Orion turned to the rest and said, "I'm just glad he's on our side."

"If he wasn't we would be in a world of shit," was Beckman's response.

**Echo Park**

With the Bryce meeting starting to weigh on their minds Chuck decided to do something to ease the tension they were starting to feel. He decided a nice dinner and night at a piano bar with Ellie and Devon would be a good thing. He made reservations for four at a nice Italian restaurant in Los Angles.

When the two couples arrived at the restaurant and were seated Chuck noticed Sarah had finally started to relax.

"This was a really good idea Chuck. I think we were both getting a bit edgy waiting to see how the meeting with Bryce goes."

"That was the motivation behind tonight. I hear they have really good veal dishes here. I'm trying to decide if I want the Pasta Primavera or the Veal Scaloppini with Morel Mushrooms."

"They both sound really good. I'll go with the Scaloppini and a side salad."

"Then I'll go with the Pasta and we can share some of each. I'll have a salad also."

"They both sound good but I'm going with my staple Veal Parmesan with a side order of pasta, and Caesar salad," added Ellie.

"Since I worked out extra hard today I'll have same as Ellie," Devon said.

The meals soon arrived and they were as good as expected. They enjoyed being able to just relax for a change after the week they were having. When they finished their meals Chuck took them to a piano bar near the beach. They got a table that faced the Piano's so they could enjoy the show. On the stage there were two pianos facing each other. The men playing them would take requests along with a small fee. They would play the songs both trying to outdo the other one. The fun really started when two rival schools started giving more and more money to have their schools songs played, or dueling pianos. One man would get more money and switch, then the other go more and he would switch. For the schools it was good fun and for the men it was a good payday. Every so often they would switch out with another pair of pianists and the fun would start over.

When the evening finally came to a close they began their trek to the car. Just before they got to the car a group of thugs approached them and demanded all their money and jewelry.

"If it isn't happy partier's boys and they look well off. Let's say we spread some of their wealth around, huh?" the thug in the lead said wielding a large knife.

"Yeah, to US!" the second one added, he had a chain in his hand. Devon was getting nervous because he had never been in a situation like this before. He was made more nervous when Ellie pushed him back and moved to stand on the other side of Chuck, opposite of Sarah. She then spoke,

"Look guys we don't want any trouble with you. So why don't you just walk away while you still can."

"Listen bitch, we want your money, not your advice. Now give it up before we ruin that pretty face of yours."

"Dude," Chuck began, "you heard the lady, now hear me, just get the hell out of here before you regret it."

"Screw you jerk wad," with that he lunged at Ellie with the knife held out, while the remaining thugs went after Chuck and Devon. Sarah went straight to Ellie to help her out but before she got far, she got another surprise. Ellie caught the thug's wrist just below the hilt of the knife as it was headed at her face, and twisted it violently. Sarah heard the telltale snap of a bone breaking then the man's scream of pain. Ellie followed that move up with an upward open palm strike to the man's nose. The result was a broken nose and the man falling unconscious to the pavement. She wheeled on to the next man in line and felled him with a powerful spinning heel kick to the side of the head.

Sarah did manage to get to the third man that came at them and stepping inside his poorly aimed punch, she used a straight left jab to stop his forward momentum. She followed that with a right hook to the body that doubled the thug over; she finished him off with a vicious knee to the face. Chuck had not trouble with the two idiots that went after him, knocking them both out quickly.

Devon watched the entire thing completely in awe of the two spies and utter shock at his girlfriend. When the dust had settled and they made their way home after calling the police, Sarah being slightly shocked at the skill Ellie displayed asked,

"Where the hell did that come from Ellie?"

"I'd like to know as well El," Devon added in.

"I did tell you I wasn't as innocent as I looked, plus I did warn that idiot."

"True, but what you just did is better than some agents I have seen. So spill it Ellie, just how good are you?"

"Not as good as you, and nowhere near as good as Chuck, but I try," Ellie pointed out. "Maybe you can work with me sometime? Now I need to ask you something. I know you excel at martial arts, but you looked like a boxer during that fight. What gives?"

"I took lessons from White." This caused Chuck to raise an eyebrow, as Sarah continued on, "he whooped my ass one day in the gym using only boxing techniques. He told me sometimes the simplest things work best. He was right, the thug walked right into my jab."

"El, we have a bit more to talk about when we get home," Devon stated. "I want to know what you really do for the ISA."

"In time Devon but tonight is not the night."

As they drove home they all agreed, with the exception of the altercation with the thugs, it was just the break they needed. At the apartments the couples went their separate ways after saying their good nights.

Chuck and Sarah both needed to shower after being in the club for several hours and the altercation with the goons. They decided to save water and shower together. In their relaxed state they began washing each other's bodies. One thing led to another and soon the sounds of their love making could be heard throughout the apartment. When they finished in the shower they headed to bed and began all over again. The next morning they both agreed the night before was one of the better ones they had.

**AN: The Gabriel in this story is not the same as in futures past, in case you read that one. I just like the whole Arch Angle of Death thing the name has going on. Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN1: **One thing I will point out, at this point in time Chuck is still trying to keep up the appearance his is just a handler. Also keep this in mind, no matter how good you are there is always someone out there that I better. Now on to a point that was brought up in a review, White may seem to good to be true, but he is a combat vet that is used to making plans and changing them on a dime, to me, a good leader is one that takes command of a situation when it looks out of control, that can rally his or her men behind them. His plans are simple and effective not crazy over the top. He uses common sense to find an answer, he's not super bright so he doesn't over think things. Thanks again for all the reviews and I hope to keep you guessing and interested! Now read on….

Chuck assigned Agent Jones of the NSA to tail Larkin after the meeting in Philadelphia. They decided against going themselves because Bryce at least two of them pretty well. Jones would tail Larkin to the airport and report back which flight Bryce was on and another agent would take over in each city until he got to his base. They would then devise a plan to catch him and bring down the cell. They had a few days before the meeting was to take place. Just because they had one big operation going, the taking down the rest of the criminal world could not be put on hold. It wasn't long before a large monitor sprung to life. Beckman and Graham called in to hand out a mission.

"Team, we received word that Larry Benet is holding a party tonight. He owns the company that supplies a good deal of ammunition to the Armed Forces. There is a good possibility that Fulcrum will attempt to make contact and force him to supply them as well. Larry has a daughter, Joan who will also be in attendance. It is our guess that Fulcrum will make an attempt to kidnap the Daughter to force Benet into supplying the Ammo." Graham informed them.

"Chuck you will be a guest and attempt to get close to Joan to ward off any Fulcrum agents. Casey you will be a bartender and Sarah you will be on the Hostess staff. Any questions?" finished Beckman.

"No Ma'am," all three answered at once.

"Your transportation has been arranged and the invitation will be in the limo. Good luck team." And the pair on screen disappeared.

"This should be fun," quipped Chuck. "Normally I just hang back here and wait for the results." Sarah gave an inward chuckle at her boyfriend's comment.

"We should get going the party starts in six hours and we need to get ready."

Later that evening the team was in place at the Party. Casey was tending Bar in his standard bartender outfit. Sarah was making her rounds asking the guests if they required a drink. Chuck had yet to arrive. He decided it would be good to arrive fashionably late. It would also give the two agents time to check out the ballroom before he arrived.

Sarah noticed his arrival out of the corner of her eye. He was dressed in a very nice charcoal grey suit and dark blue shirt with a grey tie. As soon as he saw her he headed in her direction.

"Can I get you a drink Sir?" she asked.

"Thank you miss, I'll have a Crown Royal neat. If I can say you look lovely tonight Miss."

"It's Loni Sir, in case you require another drink later on." She left and returned a few minutes later. He was standing alone looking out over the room. "You look good tonight Chuck. So good in fact I can't wait to get you home and out of that suit."

"You look nice as well; those pants really look good on you."

"I'm glad this is a legitimate party. The times I had to work parties throw by degenerate sleaze balls I had to wear uniforms that barely covered my ass."

"I can see that as a problem." Chuck caught the sight of Joan wandering around the room and excused himself. He walked over to Joan and began to fumble with his drink a bit. When she got close he took a large sip and pretended to cough. She rushed over to him and lightly patted his back.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine I think. I'm Dan by the way. Thanks for helping me out."

"That's good to know. I'm Joan, Mr. Benet's daughter. Would you like another drink?"

"I'm good for now, but thank you. This is a nice party your Dad is hosting."

"It's nice but incredibly boring. The music could put you to sleep. The men are a bunch of pompous jerks as well. Would you like me to show you around?" This took Chuck by surprise. He was just supposed to keep an eye on her not hang out with her. _This can't end well he thought._ As they made their way around the room he began to fumble over his words.

"Walker, what's Chuck doing?" Casey asked over the comm link. "He's gonna blow the whole thing. I knew it was a bad idea to bring him along."

"Relax Casey, for him it's normal. When we first met he explained that when he's around women his brain has trouble engaging his mouth. We dated for about three months before he stopped doing it around me."

"You two are dating? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Casey we live together. What did you think was going on?"

"I thought it was a cover of some kind so you could keep an eye on him. He is rather high up on the handler scale."

"Our bad. I think we need to have a talk after this. Besides after the other day when he damn near killed you, do you really think Chuck needs me to protect him?"

All Casey could do was grunt.

Chuck was enjoying the nickel tour of the place when he saw three men walk in. His left eye twitched for a second as the flash passed. Two of them were Fulcrum and the third was an associate of Josh Miller. He excused himself from Joan to use the bathroom. Once in the bathroom he spoke into his wrist mike.

"Guys I hate to break up your chat but our guests have arrived. The two men in the cheap black suits are Fulcrum, the other guy used to work for Miller. I'll take care of the assets, you guys take the Fulcrum agents." He clicked off his mike and made his way back to Joan.

"Joan, can I speak with your father for a moment? I would like to thank him for inviting me to such a splendid party."

"Now I know your full of it Dan, you're as bored as I am."

"A truer statement has never been said. Now let's meet your Dad." The couple headed to where Mr. Benet was chatting with his partners going over a business deal of some kind.

"Dad," Joan interrupted, "This is Dan, and he wants to speak with you."

"Mr. Benet may I speak with you a second away from your friends?"

"Guys I'll be right back, we can talk in my office down the hall." When they stepped away from his partners Chuck began to explain.

"Mr. Benet, I'm Special Agent Dan Wilkerson of the FBI." He handed his badge to Benet to check out. "We received a tip that someone was planning to kidnap Joan. I was sent here for her benefit. The people that want her just arrived so I need to get you two out of here. My people will take care of them." Chuck raised his arm and spoke into his watch again. "I have the Benet's with me. The men are following us. I'll lead them outside where you guys can pick them up."

"Chuck lead them out the service entrance, it should be the second door on the right in that hallway. We'll be waiting outside."

"Roger Sarah I'll see you in a bit." He continued to lead the Benet's down the hall and to safety. They were still being followed by the two Fulcrum agents. He began speaking to the Benet's "When we get outside, just listen to me and you'll be fine." They both answered yes.

Sarah and Casey quickly made their way to the service entrance and waited. The Benet's were the first people through the door followed by Chuck. Chuck led them about twenty feet before he heard the door slamming open. He pushed the Benet's to the ground and told them not to move and it would be alright.

Sarah took the first agent to exit the door, knocking his pistol away with her left hand. She followed that up with a solid right to the agents jaw. He was stunned but still able to fight back. The agent threw a few punches and jabs that landed. Sarah used a straight right hand and followed it with a snap kick to the man's chest. When he bent over she used the upper cut White had shown her. He went down for the count. She flexi cuffed him and waited for Casey to finish up with his guy.

Casey didn't fare as well as Sarah did. He did not possess the same martial arts skill Sarah had so he relied more on brute strength. His fight soon resembled a street fight with punches coming in hard and fast. It took a few extra seconds but Casey finally got the upper hand and forced his opponent to the ground.

When the fighting had stopped, Chuck called in the team to pick up the two agents. He then called the local police to come get the former associate of Miller. It had been a good night for the new team. The Benet's thanked them before they left. They went back to the Hotel they would stay at until morning when their transportation back home would be available.

"Beckman secure, but sleeping."

"Walker Secure. We intercepted the Fulcrum agents before they could get to the Benet's. They are both in custody and being transported your way as we speak."

"Very good work team. I want a full report when you get back. Now let me get back to sleep. Beckman out."

"Casey that's your cue to leave," stated Chuck.

"Not so fast lover boy. I need some answers before I go."

"We'll tell you what we can Casey, you know the drill," supplied Sarah.

"You're CIA, but Beckman keeps giving you missions and not Graham. Second, Chuck identified both those Fulcrum guys tonight, how? And finally you two are dating?"

"Let me explain the last one first. Chuck and are not just dating we live together, big difference. We can because this ties into the first. I used to be CIA, well still am but it's complicated. On paper I am still a CIA asset and if needed and approved by my boss I do missions for them. I work for the combine known as the ISA, which Chuck runs. Dating and relationships are not only allowed but encouraged."

"Beckman is our main contact for the agencies we support," explained Chuck. "With Bryce on the loose and Graham's part in what happened we don't trust him. For the second question I have what some people term instant recall. If I see something there is almost a one hundred percent chance I will remember it. I run the ISA and review most of the data that comes through. I recognized the men from reports that came across my desk."

"That information would have been good to know a few weeks ago," and he gave a grunt of displeasure.

"True, but we have been in a state of flux since then," added Sarah. It was beginning to make Casey's head spin the way they would pick up exactly where the other left off. "We lost the best partner we ever had and a good friend right after you got assigned to us. Add in the Intersect getting stolen by Bryce and sent to Chuck well you can see why we might miss a few things along the way."

"I can understand that. From now on I expect to be kept in the loop. I feel like the fat kid on the block and don't like it."

"I guess I should start now. We have an ongoing investigation concerning Daniel Shaw and Morgan Grimes. They have been following us for some reason. For now we are letting them gather information on us until we can find out their motives. We are trying to find out if it's personal or they are reporting in to some agency rogue or friendly. When we get back I'll fill you in on as much as I can. There are several things we need to keep secret but are working on getting approval to release to you," filled in Chuck. "Now you really need to leave so Sarah and I can get some sleep."

"Sleep my ass. If the way she was looking at you all night was any indication, you won't be getting much sleep," he laughed and headed to the door and to his room. He fired off a parting shot before he left. "I'm in the room next door, so keep the head board from banging against the wall. It's bad enough I know you guys are having sex I don't need to hear it."

"Well Chuck now that we're alone I need to get you out of that suit and into something a bit more comfortable."

"And what Sarah would be more comfortable, a fluffy robe?" he teased.

"No, me" and she did just that. They never had sex after missions they made love. Tonight would be no exception. It was slow and tender. When they were joined in the act of making love they could feel their souls intertwine and become one.

**East coast Myrtle Beach South Carolina**

Bob Marshall was enjoying his vacation. It was a time for him to relax and forget the stress from work. He knew he would need this time off now because in a few weeks he would become the next Director of the CIA. Bryce Larkin's plans of a subtle but hostile takeover of the CIA was just weeks away. He was taking his morning predawn walk along the beach. He enjoyed watching the sun rise up over the ocean as the sky changes colors from red to the deep blue of a cloudless day. He was so engrossed in his thoughts he never saw the Person exit the water and head his way.

A male body clad in a skintight black wetsuit exited the water and headed for the lone man on the beach. His target was walking along as if he didn't have a care in the world. He un holstered his silenced twenty two caliber pistol and moved behind his target. Two close range shots to the back of the man's head and he was face down in the sand. He went back to the point he left the water, donned his fins and made the mile swim to where he left his boat.

Later that day the news broke across every major network that the second in command of the CIA was found assassinated in Myrtle Beach.

**Same day Philadelphia, White Dog Café.**

Bryce caught the earliest flight he could to Philadelphia. He arrived about ten am local and hurried to get to the meeting he was scheduled for. When he arrived at the small Café it was just starting to fill with the lunch crowd. He noticed a stunning blonde woman sitting alone and sipping a coffee. He figured he would strike up a conversation with the woman, have his meeting and get laid all in the same day. He was just getting to the table when he noticed the TV behind the blonde. On the screen words flashed in capital letters: BREAKING NEWS…Bob Marshall CIA associate Director assassinated in Myrtle Beach…Details to follow. He turned on a dime and left. He needed to get back ASAP. His people were not going to be pleased.

Agent Jones spotted Bryce as soon as he neared the table. The look of utter horror on Bryce's face shocked the agent. The fact that Larkin didn't stay for the meeting was no surprise. He followed as instructed and waited until he had the fight information he needed. He called it in to the ISA. He would be flying nonstop to LAX.

**Echo Park/ISA**

It was barely five in the morning when the sound of both their phones ringing woke the sleeping couple. They answered in tandem, "Walker, Bartowski secure."

"Beckman secure, you two need to get to the ISA now. I have important news. Beckman out." Seconds later Chuck's phone rang again, this time it was Casey.

"Grab your girl and get to ISA now. Beckman's on the War path."

Within half an hour they were in the War Room and the NSA Monitor came to life.

"Just under an hour ago I received word that Bob Marshall, assistant Director of the CIA was found dead in Myrtle Beach. He was shot two times in the back of his head with a small caliber hand gun. Shortly after that I received a heavily encrypted e-mail from an unknown source informing us he was Fulcrum. What I need to know is, could Bryce have been responsible for this?"

"I'm not sure General," Chuck assured her. "We will be able to give you a better answer in a few hours. He is scheduled to meet with one of our agents in about an hour. When we get his report I'll give you an update."

"Thank you, this is a bad day to be a director." She ended the call.

Several hours later they received the update from Jones. They called the General to pass on the information.

"General our man at the meet sight informed us that Bryce could not have done the hit on Marshall. His report indicated that Bryce was so stunned by the news he never met with our contact. He left when he heard the news and is in route to LAX as we speak. We have agents in place to follow him and find out the location to the Fulcrum base he has been using."

"That is very good news Chuck. When you locate the cell, contact me. I will put all the NSA assets at your disposal to monitor the base. I want video and audio surveillance on it. I want you to wait a few weeks before making a move. We need to identify as many Fulcrum agents as possible. This could be the break we have been looking for."

"We were saying the same thing General," added Sarah.

"Keep me informed, I have a feeling it will get worse before it gets better," she cut the call.

"Casey, start making calls to get the equipment here and ready to go. Sarah contact Graham and see if he has any more information. I'll make a few calls and see what I can find out."

Evelyn Shaw was waiting for the person she was calling to answer.

"Hello Babe how did your meeting go?"

"It never happened. Earlier today someone killed the assistant director of the CIA. Bryce saw it on the news and got spooked. Easiest mission I was ever on. How about you?"

"Things are finally quiet here. I got word today that I will be rotated out early so plan on seeing me in a few weeks."

"You're coming home?" she could feel the tears forming in her eyes and was not trying to keep them from falling. She just got the best news in the world. Her boyfriend was coming home from the war.

"Yeah babe I am. When I do we are taking a vacation somewhere nice and quiet. I gotta run the chow hall is closing in a few minutes and I gotta eat."

"No problem, I love you."

"I love you too. See you in a few weeks."

**Secure location**

"Frost secure"

"Gabriel Secure, by now you know one is down. Tomorrow its number two's turn, I'll be there by seventeen hundred, Gabriel out."

Frost turned to Orion and smiled. The plans he put into place were going just as they had planned. In a few weeks they would return to Echo Park and stay.

**The next day approximately 1200 hours**

Langston Graham had all his contingency plans in place. When he returned from lunch he would open all Bryce's files to the three letter agencies as well as the information on the Intersect. He would blame the Intersect on why Bryce went rogue. He left the sandwich shop he frequented and started heading back to work. He never noticed the small toy car that was located under his car. Robotic arms held the small car to his.

Trailing behind Graham was a non-descript older white Ford pickup. The driver dropped back so far that Graham's car was almost out of view. On the open road the moment the driver of the Ford was waiting on arrived. There were finally no other cars close to Graham's car. This was needed to ensure no collateral damage. The driver hit the button on the small black box in his hand. Graham's car exploded into a huge fireball and was sent crashing into the guardrail. All that was left was a burning mass of twisted metal. He was done. It was time to go home to the woman he loved and the job he was surprised he missed. He made some calls.

"Beckman Secure,"

"The shit is hitting the fan get ready."

"Frost secure"

"Target is eliminated be there in two hours and bring your friends."

"Orion secure."

"Your toy worked like a dream. You need to make more."

"Smith secure"

"I'm coming in from the cold. The General's offer has been accepted."

**ISA**

The news of the Directors death was spreading through the intelligence community like a wild fire in Texas, hot and fast. The big three didn't need a call from Beckman on this, as soon as the car was found it was all over the news. Being the biggest hub for data was a plus.

"Whoever did this was a pro," stated Sarah.

"It was in the middle of the road for cripes sake, and no other causalities," added Chuck.

"I never did like the man myself. He got what he deserved," observed Casey.

**Secure location**

The four people were again seated at the table awaiting the arrival of their guest. Almost at the two hour mark the door opened and the person they were waiting for came in.

"Gabriel, nice job out there today," stated Frost.

"You did us all proud today, now our work is just beginning. We need to end Fulcrum and the Ring to keep this country strong," added Beckman.

"We may need to call on you again Gabriel," Smith tacked on.

"No you won't Smith. You call on the team I'm going to join when I walk out that door," countered Gabriel.

"What team are you talking about?"

"Ask the General, I worked it out with her," quipped the agent.

"When we needed the services of Gabriel, he wanted a deal," explained the General. "He wants to be part of a team, specifically the one he was pulled from for this mission. He's tired of working alone. For the first time he likes his team mates, so who am I to argue," This statement sent a small shock wave through the others at the table.

"Are all my papers in order? The team I'm going to work for is pretty smart you know."

"Everything is airtight, I did the hacking myself," confirmed Orion.

"Good, transfer the funds to my account as always. I have one request to make. I plan on getting married soon. I want my wife assigned to my team as an analyst. She is not going back in the field again unless it's with me."

"That shouldn't be a problem. What's your future wife's name and who does she work for?" asked Beckman.

"CIA Agent Evelyn Shaw, she is currently at the farm training new agents. I will be getting her in a few hours and we will be leaving the day after tomorrow, so make it happen quickly. I want to surprise my new team so keep the transfer quiet."

"That will not be a problem I can have her transferred later today," assured Smith.

"That will be all then. I'm sure our paths will cross again. Just because I'm semi-retired don't be afraid to call." He waved to the panel and headed out the door and into his new life.

**CIA training facility**

William entered the lobby to the training facility and approached the desk.

"Hello Sir, how can I help you?" inquired the receptionist.

"I'm here to surprise my girlfriend Evelyn Shaw she works at this extension," he handed her a slip of paper and his ID card. "I want it to be a surprise, I just got in from Afghanistan earlier today. Can you call her and tell her she has a visitor in the lobby?"

"I would be honored to make the call and welcome home."

Several long minutes passed until he spotted the love of his life walking towards him. He got up to meet her half way. She saw him stand up and her hand flew to her mouth in surprise. Her tears started the moment she saw him heading towards her. She took off and dead run and launched herself into his arms. Some of the people that were in the lobby heard the reason for William's presence and cheered loudly when they got together. Everything else was forgotten between them as the met for the first time in months. Talking would wait until later. She called her boss and excused herself for the rest of the day, only to find out she had been transferred to a new position and had to report there in two days. It didn't matter at all. Her man was home and that's all that mattered.

**Two days later ISA**

Eve entered the place she would call home for the foreseeable future. She had her orders in hand and her man by her side. Life was perfect as far as the couple was concerned. She was greeted by an agent sent to escort them to the War Room to meet her new Bosses. When they got there she was taken to Chuck's office and William was taken to the break room and given a drink while he waited.

Chuck opened the door and let the Eve in he began the introductions, "Welcome to the ISA, I'm Chuck Bartowski lead handler. The lady to my left is Sarah Walker,CIA agent and my girlfriend and Major John Casey NSA."

"Evelyn Shaw glad…" she was cut off by a shocked Sarah.

"Evelyn? How.. I mean you look…wow. How have you been?"

"Yeah Sarah it's me. I'll make a long story short. I left Daniel a while back after we talked. He left me for dead when a mission went pear shaped. I got sent to Landstuhl for treatment. I was really messed up bad. I was giving up on life by then. I met a soldier there who was injured in Iraq. We got to talking about everything and anything. He didn't care about the damage to my face or body. He liked me for me. I needed to have a lot of work done to repair the damage to my face. We fell in love and he had to go back to his unit. He told me who his favorite actress was and this was my present to him. Of course it doesn't hurt she's drop dead gorgeous either."

"Well they did great work. I couldn't tell it was you. So when do we get to meet the lucky guy?" asked Chuck.

"They made him stay in the break room when they showed me in here. funny thing about that was he kept getting these strange looks, like people knew him or something."

"Well I for one can't wait to meet him. I'm so glad you left that ass Daniel," added Sarah as they went to the break room. A lone man was sitting at the table with his back to the door. Eve went in first and the others following close behind. Eve started the introduction.

"Guys I'd like you to meet my fiancée, retired Master Sergeant William White, US Army."

White was waiting for this moment since he entered the building. When Eve said retired he rose up and began turning around. The looks on his former team mates faces was priceless. They were standing there with expressions ranging from disbelief to joy. He said the only thing that came to his mind.

"Hey guys, miss me?" in true White fashion he smirked.


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: **Thanks for the reviews. One thing I used when writing this was actual experiences from my time in combat. My soldiers and I would laugh and joke while back at our home base, once we left the base and went on convoys or patrols we changed to dead serious. It's not a case of different personalities but of mind set. That's what I tried to bring out with Chuck/Ghost and White/Gabriel. Thanks for your input on the actual writing. I can use that to improve my writing in the future.

**AN2: **another fight scene near the end, this one was a request.

Chapter 18

"So Bill, this is the team you were with before you deployed?" asked Eve.

"Yes it was. I just hope they will take me back."

"Are you nuts," asked Sarah. "Wait don't answer that, you'll just say your bat shit crazy like you always do. You know we never wanted you to leave. But you had orders to go."

"White, on behalf of the team welcome back," Chuck stated in a firm voice that left no room for argument. "You guys will need to process back in, it won't take long. When you two finish up meet us in my office we can use Evelyn's help on a mission were are running."

The groups separated from that point. Chuck and his group went back to the office where they discussed their returning team member.

"Well we have our contact from the Bryce mission in Philly," stated Sarah "Seems Eve was already working for us before today."

"What makes you say that," asked Casey.

"White told us in the e-mail to picture Jenny McCarthy with long hair. Well you just saw her, they could be twins," explained Sarah.

"Do you think she will be able to help us with Shaw?" questioned Chuck.

"That I can't answer, it's been a while since we spoke."

Later that day all parties were once again sitting in Chucks office going over the plans to get rid of Bryce and when that was done go after Shaw. Evelyn and White laughed at that, which caused a few raised eyebrows around the table.

"Sorry about that but hearing you say you want to get of Shaw when a Shaw is sitting here is kind of funny."

"Eve, do you have any idea, no matter how small, why Daniel would be after me? I can't ever recall meeting him before," asked Sarah.

"My guess would be he is still pissed at you. He holds you responsible for our getting divorced. Your name came up a few times. That's all I have."

"It's more than we had before. Next item is Bryce," Casey began. He was halted by Eve who reminded them she was no longer an agent, and would rather not be in the room when they were making plans. She also needed to get her work area in order. Later that day she would need to move her stuff into White's place.

It took a couple of days before all the equipment they would need to keep an eye on the Fulcrum base arrived on site. Chuck was in charge of setting up the surveillance equipment around the Fulcrum hive. They would position the cameras well away from the building so they were out of sight. Once they were up and running the feeds would be sent to the ISA. Eve would be part of the team that watched the feeds on the monitors in the war room. She had the advantage of knowing a good number agents from her time at the farm, thus the possibility of her recognizing someone was higher than most of the others.

Since Beckman now knew who Chuck really was, she decided to cut her calls down to once a week. She appointed an underling to request agents for missions she needed completed. The team was more than glad they only had to give her weekly status reports.

They were surprise when Beckman's monitor flashed indicating an incoming call from her. When the screen came to life, they noticed a change in her uniform. She was now wearing two stars on her shoulder boards. Casey was the first to congratulate her.

"General, I see congratulations are in order."

"Thank you Major, it could be condolences as well. Along with the promotion I was just approved to be the new head of the DNI. With Graham's sudden demise I will be handling the CIA as well."

"Ouch," was all White could say. Chuck and Sarah offered their good wishes as well.

"How are you coming on the Larkin front?"

"We're slowly making headway Ma'am. Agent Shaw has been putting together the list of names we have so far, along with their bios."

"Agent Shaw? Isn't he still on medical leave?" asked Beckman.

"Oh for the love of Pete, not the idiot Agent Daniel Shaw, his ex-wife Eve, That's it; Eve we're getting married this weekend. I'm done having her compared to the block of wood she made the mistake of marrying," huffed White.

"Very well people just keep me in the loop. By the way White, gotcha! Who do think approved her transfer?" and she was gone.

"Chuck, Sarah, I'm heading to talk to my girl about getting married this weekend. Is dinner still on for tonight at Ellie's?"

"Be there before six. I didn't tell Ellie you were back. I wanted to surprise her, that and give you a chance to settle in with Eve. Devon has all kinds of extreme things coming up. I knew if I told him you were back he would have pulled you into it."

"Good point Chuck and thanks for the heads up. See you at six."

**Morgan's office**

Morgan and Shaw were going over the list of names they had acquired from the pictures Morgan had been taking over the last couple months. It was a pretty large list. There were numerous agents and analysts from various agencies working out of that building. One thing Morgan now knew for sure was Chuck was more than just the owner of a computer company. He would need to find out exactly what or who Chuck was. The other thing they noticed was the one guy who had been seen with Walker was now with another woman. She was strikingly beautiful and always impeccably dressed. Her entire demeanor screamed professional. There was nothing on her in any of the data bases they had available to them.

"Daniel, we have a pretty large list here. How many of them do you think have turned to Fulcrum?

"I can't say for sure anymore. With Graham dead they have tightened the information coming out of HQ. They think there might be a leak in the system. If I had to guess, the leak is Walker. She was partnered with Bryce for a while and rumor has it they were partners with benefits."

"That does make sense. I have an idea. I will head over to Chucks place and plant one of the new bugs we just got. It's almost impossible to jam. Maybe we can pick up something."

"Just be careful Morgan, I have a bad feeling about this. Sarah is a CIA agent after all, and Chuck does work with them. I still don't know what they actually do in there. We do know it's a mix of agents from all the agencies."

"True, I wonder if that's why he wouldn't hire me in the beginning, and then refused again a few months ago. My guess is he did turn, that's why he doesn't want me there. He sees me as a good guy."

"I can see them both working with Bryce on this. It makes sense. One last thing before we go. I have another mission for you."

"Good, what is it this time, more bugs or stealing documents."

"It's going to be a bit harder than that. We have an agent that decided to switch sides and rat us out to Fulcrum. We need him taken care of, permanently. His information is in this file. He will be alone in his home tomorrow night. Do it then."

"Is that really necessary? I mean I'm ok with the other stuff but not this."

"Let me make it as clear as I can for you. Either he dies or you do. It's all part of being in the Ring. We do things no-one else wants to. You are working with the best and we can't afford to be identified."

"I'll take care of it like you want."

**Ellie's**

Sarah and Ellie were sitting on the couch sipping some wine before dinner. Casey was lounging on the recliner with his scotch. Devon and Chuck were in the kitchen making dinner. Ellie had been on call this week. With several emergencies at the hospital and the ISA, it had left her worn out. They guys decided the ladies needed a break and decided to cook.

"Your week did suck El. Mine was really good. An old friend from years ago got transferred to us this week. Now I have two people I can hang out with."

"That's great news Sarah. When do think you can introduce us? I have tomorrow off. Maybe we can do a girls night out?"

"Chuck asked her to come by here for dinner." Sarah said. "She is bringing her boyfriend with her tonight. I think you'll like them both. I do need to warn you about something. A few years ago she was badly disfigured during an op that went bad. She was left for dead. Thanks to the CIA medical teams she's, to quote Chuck, smoking hot. When she comes in tonight, just watch Devon's reaction to her."

"Sarah, she can't be that good looking."

"Ellie just wait and you'll see."

Casey took this opportunity to pipe in. "Sarah almost killed Chuck the first day for looking at her. He had a knot on his head for days. He never did it again."

There was a knock at the door and Ellie went to answer it. When she opened it she froze. Standing before her was the spitting image of a famous model and actress. She was wearing a short figure hugging dark blue dress with a low cut front and open back. Ellie motioned them to come in. Ellie never noticed the man she was with. Sarah poked her to get her back on track before she introduced the couple.

"Ellie, this is my friend Evelyn and her boyfriend Bill." It didn't take Ellie more than a second before she was engulfing White in a hug.

"Welcome back, isn't she a bit old for you?" this caused Evelyn to laugh.

"I see he's been feeding you the crap about going after the young ones. We've been together for a couple years and every time he goes away he uses it. It's his way of saying no thanks to going out 'chasing tail' as he puts it."

"See I have no secrets from you." White gave Eve a quick kiss on the lips and pulled her in the living room.

Devon popped his head out of the kitchen to see who was at the door. He noticed White standing next to Sarah and Ellie. Ellie shifted to the side a bit and he saw the woman holding on to Whites hand. Chuck noticed Devon's eyes beginning to drift so he did the bro thing and smacked him upside the head.

"I did that and got a knot on my head. Just look at her eyes man, look at the eyes. It will hurt less that way."

Chuck led Devon into the living room and the party picked up speed. Dinner was a success and the couples and Casey enjoyed a night of playing games and talking over old times. Chuck and Ellie filled the group in on why their parents had yet to return. They did communicate on a regular basis using Skype. It wasn't the same as having them around but it was much better than the last fifteen years. The girls agreed to the night out and the men decided to go to the range and blow off a few hundred rounds. Devon had slowly begun using fire arms over the last couple of weeks. He was still wary but knew if he ever needed to protect Ellie he would need to know how.

Finally the night had to come to an end and the group of friends said their goodbyes and made their way home.

**Morgan**

Morgan had caught a break the night before. He was stopping by to see Chuck and play a video game to calm his nerves. He saw the dinner party going on at Ellie's and planted the bug as an afterthought. He did not sleep much the night before his new mission, dwelling on what he was about to do. He found himself in another suburb of Los Angles in his targets home. He was trying to convince himself it was just like a video game. When he left someone would hit the reset button and his target would be alive again. He was already inside the man's closet waiting for him to arrive. The file had all the man's habits down pat. He would soon be sitting in the chair in front of the closet Morgan was hiding in. When he began to read the paper, Morgan silently opened the closet door, got his sight picture and fired. The force of the impact slammed the man's head into the table.

Morgan kept hearing himself say check for blood and brain matter. He did and there was. Morgan felt the onset of vomiting and fled the house. He ran half a block before emptying his stomach several times. He made his way back to his place and called Shaw to let him know the job was done. He grabbed a bottle of Jack and poured himself a glass. The only thoughts he had were I am so screwed; I should have listened to Chuck.

Over the next few weeks the three couples got closer as they began spending more time together. Casey would show up about half the time, mostly when it was Ellie's turn to cook. Mission wise it was busy for most of the agents at the ISA but not the big four as they were known around the ISA. That was one thing that bothered the team. Being the best team Beckman had at her disposal had its drawbacks. They were saved for the direst missions and they didn't come along that often. Their main concern though all of the down time was Bryce. He had been quiet for a while now, but over the last few days Chuck was flashing on more of the agents as they arrived. It began to look like a conference was going to take place and soon. It was time to for the team to make its move. Chuck put in a video call to Beckman. When she appeared Chuck began his briefing.

"General, over the past several days there has been a marked increase of Fulcrum agents entering and leaving the hive. We feel there is either a conference going on or they plan to launch a major assault. I am requesting permission to attack the hive tomorrow. We feel the time to strike is now."

"You have carte blanche to do what you feel needs to be done. I'll approve it and get the other directors on board."

"Thank you General. We will need support from the FBI, ATF and NSA. We will brief the team leaders tonight. We would like to keep the local authorities out of the operation. We will need them to cordon off the streets around the hive. I'll send the complete plan to you within the hour."

"Very good Chuck and happy hunting," replied Beckman.

The War Room came alive when the call ended. Technicians were scrambling about installing new video lines to the monitors on the wall. When zero hour arrived all the video feeds on the area and the control over them would be transferred to the agents in the War Room. The Agent's in the field would take directions from the Agents in the War Room. The Agents in the War Room would move the teams on the ground to where they would need to be. They would also warn them of approaching danger.

**Next morning**

Before the sun began to rise the local authorities were busy blocking off the streets that allowed entrance to the Fulcrum hive. In order to not tip off the Fulcrum agents they used the cities maintenance crews to block the streets. One was digging a hole to repair a water main break; the other was repaving a section of the street. All the traffic would now have to use the remaining street to get to the hive. Local radio and television channels were asked to put out the word on the roads during their traffic reports. It would help lessen the surprise to the Fulcrum agents heading in to work.

Chuck and the various teams had assembled prior to the roads being blocked off. The plan was to attack the building from the front as well as the sides. The rear of the building was solid and offered no means of entry or exit. Two man sniper teams from the FBI and ATF were positioned several hundred yards from the building. It was their job to take down any agents that managed to escape from the building. Other teams were placed around the area as well, they were to stop any new Fulcrum people from getting in. Specialized teams from the FBI and ATF would breech any blocked or barricaded doors.

Chuck called one last briefing for the team leaders.

"We go in hard and fast. There are analysts and other workers in that building so use caution. Remember the rules of engagement, people. Announce who you are and what you want. If they surrender, cuff them and leave them. If they resist use the escalation of force to subdue them. They can't give us any information if they are dead. If there is a weapon pointed at you, shoot first and ask questions later. You all have your area of operation. We go in fifteen minutes."

Chuck made his way to his team. What they were about to do was weighing on his mind. He had talked to Sarah the night before while lying in bed. This was not the normal mission they were used to. They had both been involved in firefights before. This was different; it was more military in nature. He remembered the conversation they had the day before with White and Casey.

"_Sarah and I will enter through this door," he said pointing to the diagram of the building. "White and Casey you take this door."_

"_Sorry boss that's not gonna happen," said White. Chuck raised his eyebrow at this. "You may be the best at what you do. I won't argue that. But this," he said pointing to the plan "this is what WE do," White said and pointed at Casey. "You're in our world now Chuck. I've trained for and done this type of thing for over twenty years. I've cleared more buildings than I can count. I told you back in Russia, when I joined your team I made you a promise to keep you and Sarah safe. I meant that. Today you follow US; you will trust US just like I trusted you on the other missions. At the end of the day we WILL be sitting around having a drink. I promise you that." White stood and made his way to the door followed by Casey. The way he said his speech and left the room told Chuck all he needed to know it was going to be done Whites way._

Zero hour had arrived. Chuck issued the go command to the teams. Vehicles began pouring down the only open street and through the parking lot heading to the locations they were assigned to. Men began taking up their positions as instructed by the commands coming from the ISA. Back in the ISA agents quickly began cutting off power and communications to the building. Chuck issued the last group command he would give that day. After this it was up to the team leaders. He said one word, "Breech."

Inside the hive the people monitoring the surveillance cameras noticed the sudden on rush of vehicles and armed men heading to the building. Alerts were sounded and the agents inside began arming themselves. If they went down they were going to go hard, fighting to the end. A few seconds later the power went out and the emergency light came on.

Bryce heard the alarms and rushed into the surveillance room. He instantly began flashing on multiple agents. The last face he saw before being rendered useless by the flashes was his girl, Sarah. He would awaken a few minutes later. He was slightly panicked but under control as he made his way towards the Intersect room. He would make his stand there. He would convince Sarah that he had completed his mission of infiltrating Fulcrum and locating the Intersect they were building. Now that they were here to help him, he was going to destroy it. If that didn't go well he would activate the download sequence and intersect everyone in the room. He knew everyone but he would die, but he'd still be alive. _Sucks to be them he thought._

Teams instantly began entering the building and sporadic weapons fire could be heard over the shouts of FBI and ATF. Chuck's team was armed to the teeth with M-4 assault rifles and the pistol of their choice. They were wearing military grade IBA. Just before Chuck's team led by White and Casey prepared to enter the building Chuck took a quick look over to White. The first thing he noticed were his eyes, they were the exact same as that fateful day back in Iraq. He knew he had the man he wanted watching his and Sarah's backs.

White was the first to enter the building and quickly dispatched two agents that offered him resistance. Sarah being the last to enter was responsible for the rear of the party. She had to dispatch another agent who attempted his attack from behind. They moved quickly down the hall checking every room as they went down the hall. Most of the people they passed were already on the ground with their hands on their heads. They were flexi cuffed and left.

Chuck noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, turned and fired ending another Fulcrum agents life. Their trek through the building was slow and tedious but very effective. Sarah noticed as soon as they got inside the building Chuck slipped into his alter ego, Ghost. He was dispatching Fulcrum agents at a frightening pace.

Chuck along with Sarah made formidable team as they made their way through the building. Any Fulcrum agent that was dumb enough to offer resistance met their end quickly. They cuffed those that decided that surrendering was the best course of action. Most of the ones that surrendered were analysts. During their trip through the building Chuck was getting his information from Eve over his earwig.

"Chuck, I'm seeing a massive increase in heat on the infrared cameras. It appears to be located about fifty feet from your location."

"Thanks Eve, do you have the exact location?"

"Negative Chuck, I'm going to overlay the map of your locator beacons with the infrared map. Give me a second." There was a slight pause, "Got it. It should be the second door on the left. I can't tell how many people are in there."

"Understood Eve, contact White and Casey, have them meet us at the room you located." Within a few minutes Sarah and Chuck were joined by their partners. White motioned the team to the wall next to the door they were going to enter. He formed them into the standard four man stack the Army uses to clear rooms. Chuck would enter first followed by Casey, Sarah and himself. Chuck smashed the door open entered and turned to his left. He saw a man standing beside a large computer consul. Casey who was on his ass turned right and moved down the wall to the corner and then towards the back wall, the entire time keeping his M-4 pointed straight ahead until he reached his spot then pointed his M-4 to the middle of the room Sarah followed him and stopped just inside the door. White remained on the outside picking up the rear security.

"Rooms clear of weapons and one Fulcrum agent it's Bryce," Chuck called to White. Chuck heard Eve on his comm link.

"Chuck, most of the teams are reporting in. Most of the building is secure. We have a few minor injuries, some major ones and three fatalities. Your section of the building is secure; I put a team at each end of your hall. Beckman wants to know what's in that room. Send a SITREP when you can."

"Tell her we've located Bryce and the intersect computer Fulcrum was building, SITREP to follow."

Bryce had now regained his composure and was leaning on the terminal located in the middle of the room. He began to speak.

"Sarah, Thank God you made it. I did it Sarah I found the Intersect computer Fulcrum was building."

"Bull shit Bryce," answered Chuck, "We know you joined up with them a while ago."

"If it isn't the big bad analyst, Chucky the loser," sneered Bryce. "Why don't you take your sorry ass out of here and let the real spies do what they came for." Sarah was about to fly into a rage and end Bryce's life for talking about Chuck like that. A hand suddenly appeared on her arm holding her back from firing her assault rifle, it was White's.

"I'll make you a deal Bryce," Chuck calmly said. "You and me, one on one in hand to hand, we do it the winners' way. So if I win you go to a deep dark prison, if you win you go back a hero. What do you say Bryce?"

That's all Bryce's over inflated intersect drive ego needed to hear. He went after Chuck with all he had. He started with a straight left to the face which Chuck easily dodged and received a shot to the gut for his try. He threw several more rapid shots at Chuck, most of which were blocked or avoided. Each time he attacked Chuck inflicted his own damage to various parts of Bryce's body and face.

Bryce backed off a few steps to regroup and catch his breath. _This can't be happening, Chuck is a mere mortal and I am the intersect. I'll teach him to mess with me_. He began his attacks in earnest again, each time getting his ass handed to him by Chuck.

Casey was watching the entire thing in awe. He had a feeling there was something different ever since he was planted face first into the desk, but what he saw was way beyond what he expected from Chuck. It was almost poetry in motion to him, watching the way Chuck was moving and dodging the punches and kicks Bryce was throwing at him. Chucks counters were well timed and precise with very little wasted motion or energy. Bryce was bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth and one eye was closed as he finally slumped to the floor a beaten man.

"Guys," Bryce began to speak after coughing and spitting out some blood. He began to pull himself up on the consul he was slumped against "Graham sent me here under cover to take Fulcrum down. Sarah you know me, I'm telling the truth."

"Is that so Mr. Larkin?" said White as he walked towards the fallen agent and raised his Springfield XD forty towards Bryce. The other members of the team were watching the event with a keen eye.

"You gotta believe me," Bryce was almost begging by now. "I'm telling the truth. I went undercover off the books on Graham's orders to infiltrate Fulcrum and bring them down."

Chuck and Sarah noticed he was repeating himself over and over, not really talking to anyone.

"Mmm, that almost sound's believable Bryce, almost," White tilted his head to the left causing his bones to pop. "I have a friend, you see, actually a couple of them, Orion and Frost. They know what you did Bryce, they know everything. In fact they told me to give you a message when we found you."

"Alright tough guy, what is it." Bryce was going to enjoy taunting this inferior being. All he needed to do was delay his death for a few more seconds and he would walk out alive. He was moving his good hand closer to the panel that would begin the upload.

"It is said there is an Arch Angel called Gabriel, he's known as the bringer of Death. Frost and Orion thought you should meet Gabriel in person. Well I'm here."

Chuck, Sarah and Casey were shocked by the revelation that White had been sent by Chuck's parents. And he was calling himself Gabriel.

"This is the message. You have messed with our family for the last time. It's time for you to go to Hell where you belong." The sound of a single gunshot echoed through the room and into the hall. Bryce's head snapped back and the rest of him followed as he fell to the floor dead. White holstered his pistol and motioned for the rest of the team to join him at the terminal in the center of the room.

"Well boss, do you think that piece of trash was telling the truth?"

"Once we have the mess cleaned up I'll have the techs come in and check it out," answered Chuck, "We need to secure the room and then make sure the building is secure. When we get back you have a lot of explaining to do White."

"Not much to explain really but it'll keep," was the answer he got plus a shrug.

"Between your shrugs and Casey's grunts, I don't know which is worse," stated Sarah.

They left knowing it would take the cleanup teams several days to gather all the information that was stored in the Fulcrum hive's computers. Getting the prisoners sorted out would also take time. Much of the initial information that was coming out was disturbing. Many of the analysts had been forced to work for Fulcrum by threats made against their families. They would head back to the War Room and go over the assault of the hive.

On the ride back to the ISA Chuck received a text message that said: secure briefing in your office. Call Beckman when you arrive.

The agents were sitting around the office waiting to put the call in to Beckman. Sarah was the first to break the silence.

"White, could you please explain what happened in the Intersect room, plus you calling yourself Gabriel? Please spare us the usual sarcasm."

"I'll tell you a little bit now. The call you're expecting will explain most or all of it. Before I start you need to call in Eve. She may also want to be here to hear this."

"Just how much of this is she cleared to hear?" asked Casey.

"I doubt she will hear anything she doesn't already know. She knows all my secrets, same as Sarah knows Chuck's."

"So back to what happened in the intersect room?" asked Sarah.

"Chuck has people that care a lot about him. They felt it was in his best interest to have someone else take care of Larkin. No matter how many kills a person has, taking the life of someone you were friends with at one time can be hard. They asked me to take of Larkin when the time came."

As White finished his explanation the call came in and the monitor flared to life. On the screen four people were sitting at a table side by side. Three shocked faces looked back at the monitor, only White and Eve were unaffected. The faces of Stephen and Mary Bartowski, General Beckman and Sentinel Director Smith were looking back at them.

**AN2: **The remainder of the explanation happens at the start of the next chapter. I decided to break this one up. Thanks again for reading.


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: this chapter could be considered filler. This is more a set up for the sequel to this story as this one should end in the next chapter or so. I am also not well versed in any type of video game. I just know Call of Duty gets mentioned a lot so I'm going to use that one. One thing that bothered me about the show was they never gave Sarah any friends, and not enough time with Ellie. I hope I did their interactions well.**

The three surprised agents stared up at the screen and the people that were looking back at them. White looked over at Eve and whispered, "This should be good."

"Hello team," Beckman started off. "Major Casey, for your benefit I will introduce you to the members of the panel. The couple to my left is Stephen and Mary Bartowski also known as Orion and Frost. Orion is the creator of the Intersect. The man to my right is Mr. Smith, Director of the Sentinels, that until a little while ago I believed to be the most covert group within the CIA. This briefing is to explain to all the members of the team what we are all about." Frost was the next to go.

"Over twenty years ago I went undercover to take down Alexi Volkoff. The reason that was given to the agencies was he was a danger to the country. That part was true, what wasn't released was that the CIA created the monster Alexi Volkoff. It was a project Stephen was working on that his colleague jumped the gun on. The CIA found out and tried to kill Stephen. He had to leave our family to fend for themselves for their safety." Orion took over for Mary.

"When Chuck was young he snuck into my lab at home and downloaded the first version of the data intersect. Chuck became obsessed with finding his mother. He left home when he was sixteen and ended up in the Gaza strip. I managed to get him a message to give to his mother. One of Volkoff's enemies wanted her dead and was going to blow up where she was. Chuck somehow got word to Mossad and they stopped the bombing. He ended up training there for months and becoming a Mossad agent, Ghost. As I perfected the Intersect I sent them to Chuck, so the data never got old as long as Chuck kept getting the updates. He continued to train with Mossad which got him recruited by the CIA when he was eighteen."

"That's when I came in," interjected Smith. "He was too good to be regular agent so I recruited him into the Sentinels, an elite group of agents. Their numbers are small only about thirty are still active today. They are the best of the best or so they were told. I just informed Beckman, there is another group of agents in the CIA, the Guardians. There are currently only five still on active status. One is currently contemplating his retirement as we speak her today. You can surmise that these agents are truly the best. Their careers are short by anyone's standards which is why one agents longevity has surprised all of us."

"Stephen and I didn't like the fact that Chuck decided to follow in our footsteps," said Mary as she took over from Smith. "It was his choice to make so we supported him. Chuck was good but he was rash and undisciplined. He was making mistakes on missions that we felt would get him killed. So I called in a favor from an old friend of mine, Mr. Smith from the agency. They sent the best agent in any agency, his code name is Gabriel."

Chuck, Sarah and Casey all sat there slack jawed at what they had just heard. Each had their own reasons, Chuck couldn't believe that the guy he wanted to become an agent because he possessed the skills, was in a class above him. Sarah now had the answer she asked herself when she first heard Chuck's story during, "_the talk_', how he was able to save Chuck back in Iraq. Casey was the most shocked of all, the analyst he was sent to watch was an elite agent. _That explains the Generals warning before I came out here. _Adding to that was White; he was above Chuck if the panel was to be believed. _And I told him it wasn't a mission to cut his teeth on. I'm glad Sarah held him back when I said that._

"Iraq happened by chance Chuck I had no idea who you were," White stated, "I really was in the Army at the time." Eve snorted at this and rolled her eyes.

"Ok I was in the Army for a mission," White continued, "I was trying to capture a soldier who was selling secrets to our enemies and find out how deep it went. I wasn't there to keep tabs on you or bail you out. To me you were just another American that needed help. I had already been in this business a long time and was in the process of giving up my agent status prior to the call from Beckman. I was going to stay in the military when I left the Guardians."

"Then I called him and ruined his plans," continued Smith. "I got the call from your Mom and arranged with Beckman for White to join your team. A few months ago there were a few pests that needed removed. One was Bob Marshall who was Fulcrum and the other one was Graham, who planned to reveal the fact there was indeed a human intersect, you Chuck, to the world. He was going to twist Bryce stealing it and sending it to you making you the intersect."

"Even if it was a lie on Graham's part, it was still true. "We would never put you or Ellie in danger again because of the spy game Chuck," added Mary. "You finally got the life you want and have a terrific woman at your side. One that understands what we do. Your Father and I called in another favor. We needed the best so we requested Gabriel. His final mission for the Guardians took place when he eliminated Bryce."

"We did Bryce a favor," said Orion. "Graham used the old software to build his intersect. You know there was a flaw in the program. There is no reversing the damage done to the brain from it. He would have gone more insane as each week passed. Soon his vital organs would have slowly stopped working because the needed signal from his brain would be messed up. Bryce would have died a slow painful death."

"What we need to decide here today is if you, Sarah and Casey will still be comfortable working with White and Evelyn or us for that matter. Together you and Sarah are a great team, the four of you together will be unstoppable," decreed Beckman. "The choice is yours to make and no one else's. We would like you to talk about it and decide what you want to do. If you do decide to continue on as you are currently doing, you would answer only to us. We have already cleared it with the President."

"General, I would like to talk this over with my team. Can we give you an answer in a few hours?"

"Take all the time you need Chuck. Call us back in two hours, if you want more time tell us then." This time it was Frost that cut the connection.

"Come on Eve, these folks a lot to talk about. I'm sure some of the things they heard shocked them."

"White we covered this before," began Sarah. "Right now we're still a team and will discuss it like one. I only have a few questions, because I already knew about Chuck, so please sit down, both of you."

"Let me go first," Casey stated. "Chuck is the human intersect?"

"Correct and there is more," Chuck answered, "While I have uploaded the Intersect, the regular intersect is the big room with all the servers in it. All the intelligence is located here in this building. Our people use it every day."

"Eve I understand why White is here but why are you here and why do you seem ok with everything?" questioned Sarah.

"I'm Gabriel's handler. Everything I told you about how we met was true. He was injured in Iraq but it was on a mission and not with the Army. When we started dating he told me everything, even the things I found out later he shouldn't have. That's when I knew he was the one for me. He put his entire career on the line for me. I know you understand that Sarah. We called Smith and I became his handler. I was in contact with the panel the day he started on the team. Frost was quite insistent I know all about Chuck and you so I could get the information to her."

"Well I can safely say that between the four of us we proved that saying, 'spies don't fall in love' is a crock," said Sarah.

"Six Sarah, you forgot my parents."

"Sarah and Chuck, I have done everything I can to remain in the background," explained White. "This is your operation; I'm just along for the ride. I will give you everything I have on missions and do it your way unless it will get one of you killed or injured. Only then will I step in and change things."

"I don't see why we need to even talk about this," Casey began again. "Our team is currently made up of White, who I was just told is as good as it gets. We have Chuck, who is a member of the Sentinels, an elite group in the CIA and the human Intersect. Next we have Walker, no offense Sarah, one of the best regular agents the CIA has. I'm in the top of the NSA. As a backup if needed, is another CIA agent, Eve. We have already demonstrated we work well together. What's not to like about all this? I'm all for keeping the team together."

"Casey I agree with you on all counts," added Chuck. "Plus we have another top Agent in my Mom, a computer genius in my Dad and the head of the DNI on our side. Smith is also with us but if my gut feeling is correct, he will let Beckman handle most things and have little or no input."

It was Eve's turn to speak, "I go where Bill goes. If he's in then so am I. I have one rule though. I will not do any solo missions."

"I was looking to retire. A step down from the work I normally do would be nice. So count me in," White tossed his name into the yes column.

"I guess that just leaves me," quipped Sarah. "Oh the power of it all, I have some personal reasons for wanting to keep the team together. White saved Chuck's ass in Iraq. He saved Chuck's mom in Russia. He gave Eve her life back when she wanted to kill herself. No agents that I know would do all that. Chuck takes care of his people just like White does. I'm in, let's call Beckman."

**Shaw's office**

Shaw was very impressed when Morgan killed his target. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to get into the ISA and feed the Ring Information on them. Morgan had been a complete failure in that venue. It was the only thing he couldn't get done. Morgan's computer skills did come in very handy at times. There were a few times he had gotten in to the system. They got a few bits of information confirming Chuck was a handler and Casey was an agent of the NSA. Other than that they got nothing. His plans did suffer a major setback with Graham getting killed and Beckman taking over. He needed to call in and end his leave.

"DNI headquarters how can I help you?"

"This is Agent Daniel Shaw of the CIA. I would like to speak with General Beckman."

"Please stand by."

"General Beckman how can I help you?"

"I would like to return from medical leave effective today. I have been cleared by my doctors to return to full time duty. I also have a mission I was working on while I was on leave. I uncovered the parent group to Fulcrum. They call themselves the Ring. Unfortunately I passed the information on to Graham just before he was killed. I know more about the ring than any agent you have. I would like to head a task force to take them down."

"I will need to give this some thought Agent Shaw. I do believe you could be on to something very big. Expect my call tomorrow."

Shaw was happy about the call. I knew he would get a yes tomorrow and could bide his time until he weaseled his way into the ISA. The Ring was not in a hurry, they had time. Morgan had just returned from lunch. It had taken a few days and a lot of booze but Morgan had finally started to come around. He helped out by setting Morgan up with a ring agent. It was a good fit for both of them. They were equal in appearance and hobbies. They both liked to play those stupid video games.

"Morgan, I have an idea. Call Julie and go to Chuck's and play some games. That usually makes you feel better."

"I have been avoiding him since my last mission. You may be right and I can introduce him to my girl, I bet he gets a kick out of the fact I have a girlfriend. I'll look him up after work."

The rest of the day went by slowly for the two ring agents and soon it was time to leave. Morgan picked up Julie after work and they went to Chuck's place. When they arrived and knocked, the door was opened by Sarah who invited him in. She called to Chuck who was in the bedroom getting changed after their shower. Sarah was already dressed in a denim mini skirt and tight red tank top. She finished off her ensemble with knee high black boots

"Morgan who's your friend?" asked Sarah.

"I'm sorry Sarah, I forgot my manners for a minute. This fine lady is my girlfriend Julie. Julie this is my friend's girlfriend Sarah."

The two women shook hands and Sarah motioned over to the couch and for them to sit down. As they were sitting down the door opened and two women walked in. The first one almost gave Morgan a heart attack. It was the girl from the ISA. She was wearing a skin tight white spandex dress that ended about mid-thigh and left nothing to the imagination. It was almost as short as Sarah's skirt. She also was wearing white boots that came to mid-calf. The third one to enter the apartment was Ellie. Morgan knew in that minute he had died and gone to heaven. His crush of a lifetime was dressed in tight black leather jeans that hugged her like a glove. She had on a black halter top and mid-calf black boots. The top she was wearing showed of her new navel piercing.

Chuck walked in seconds after the two ladies and let out a wolf whistle. "Looking good ladies, you all set for your night out? I must say Ellie even though you are my sister, you look hot! I'm surprised Devon let you out dressed like that."

"He's adjusting to it, slowly," explained Ellie. "I owe it all to Eve and Sarah. They kept telling me I had a great body and should flaunt it like they do when I get the chance. They convinced me that just because I'm involved with somebody does not mean I need to hide my looks."

"It looks like you two have finally corrupted my sister."

"Oh hell no Chuck," stated Eve. "Who do you think I got this dress from? Seems she has a rather large collection of them. She wore them for Devon all the time; she was just to chicken to wear them out."

"That's TMI ladies," stated Chuck. "You guys get out of here and have a good time. I'll see you when you get back."

The three women left and headed to the trendiest club in the area. They had fast become friends and confidants in the surprisingly short time Eve was around. For Ellie it was a dream come true. Her brother had found the girl of his dreams and Sarah was like a sister to her. Adding Eve into the mix gave Sarah another person to talk with that could understand her life as a spy. Over the year Ellie noticed the big changes in Sarah, at first she rarely laughed or opened up. Now she was telling jokes and making wise cracks with the rest of them. With Eve she could talk about her time in the agency. Eve was the exactly the same as Bill, dragging sexual innuendoes into conversations at will. Eve kept both of them on their toes. Heaven help anyone caught in the crossfire between her and Bill when they got on a roll.

Ellie also found herself becoming more open, not just to other people but to herself. She was going to start doing what she had wanted for a long time, follow the same path as the rest of her family. She recalled what Chuck had told her when she asked him about it, "_Somehow El, I think we were bred for it with our parents it's in our blood."_ Devon always talked and bragged about his body, especially after working out. The girls showed her she was just as hot if not hotter than Devon.

The club was hopping and the music was good. They danced together most of the night. Every few songs one of them would take a break and replenish their drinks. The one good thing about them hanging out together was they were not heavy drinkers if they drank at all. The DJ called out to the club he would be taking his last break so the trio headed to their table. They were approached by three fairly good looking men holding drinks in their hands.

"Hello ladies we thought you looked thirsty and might need a drink."

"That was very nice of you but we're fine, thanks anyway," Sarah answered for the group.

"We noticed you have been dancing together all night. I think you could use some manly company for the rest of your night."

Sarah and Ellie looked at each other just as they noticed the spark of mischief in Eve's eyes just before she spoke. She placed her arms around each of their shoulders and pulled them in close to her.

"We are in a committed relationship. When we go home we will make a reverse Oreo cookie, Blondes on the outside and Brunette on the inside. I don't think you have anything we need. Sorry to disappoint you guys." She then placed a small kiss on each of their cheeks.

The men just stood there looking like fish out of water, then they turned and left. As soon as they did the three women burst into laughter.

"Works every time," declared Eve. The decided to call it a night and headed back to Echo park.

**Chucks place **(same time girls are out)

Chuck, Morgan and Julie were sitting in various places around the living room holding a controller in their hands. They were playing Call of Duty online and they were clearly the team to beat. In addition to killing the enemy and shouting orders about which way to go, they were sharing small talk.

"Chuck, Morgan tells me you own a computer company," Julie said.

"It's not a computer company per say, it's a computer security firm. Our firewalls and intrusion software programs are among the best on the market. We also have a top of the line industrial building security system. I spend a lot of time on the road installing various systems."

"I tried for the longest time to get Chuck to hire me. He didn't because I wasn't qualified for any of the positions he had open. I'm glad he didn't. I now have a job I really like and met you. So in the end it all worked out."

"I'm glad you finally see it my way Morgan," Chuck said. "Maybe we can finally put the past behind us."

"I'm glad to hear that," added Julie. "Morgan is always telling me how close you two were growing up. He really wanted his friend back."

"Chuck, I need to ask this. What happened to Ellie? The Ellie I knew would never have left the house looking like that."

"You heard what she said before she left. Sarah and Eve got her to open up. It used to drive me nuts when we went to their place and Devon was prancing around with no shirt on bragging about how much work it took for him to look like he did. One day Sarah got fed up with it and called Eve. They had a long chat with Ellie and you saw the results."

Chuck paused for a second to kill a guy on screen then continued, "You should have seen the look on Devon's face when Ellie showed up with Sarah and Eve at the hospital one day. They decided to take him lunch. They were dressed in the shortest Daisy Dukes they could find, matching blue Bikini tops and a white mesh top over it. Devon's eyes popped out of his head seeing the three of them."

"He must have flipped his lid," Julie said.

"Oh he did," answered Chuck. "It got better after that. Ellie looked straight into his eyes and said, 'you need to do a lot of work to look like that. I don't need to work at all to look like this.' Then the three of them turned and left. Devon sulked for a week afterwards." All three laughed at that.

"Morgan, it's late I think we should go."

"Julies right Chuck, remember my offer is still on the table." Morgan and Julie helped Chuck clean before they left.

**ISA the next day**

The four agents were getting ready for the weekly call in from Beckman. Even though Eve was an agent it was decided that Eve would remain with the other analysts on the second floor. She was given her own private office and secure terminal in case it was necessary for her to participate in a conference with the team.

Beckman's call came as expected.

"I received a call yesterday from Daniel Shaw saying he was cleared for duty. He informed me has information on a group called the Ring. He claims they are the parent group that fulcrum was a small part of. He also informed me Graham has the information he sent in. We are currently going over Graham's computers to see if there is indeed information on this so called Ring. Do you have any information on them?"

"General, the first time I heard of them was a few weeks back. Someone I know is working for Shaw. He told Sarah and I that the Ring is part of the CIA."

"Unless there is a more covert group in the CIA than the one White works for, the panel has never heard of them. I think this group needs to be investigated. Your opinions please?" questioned Beckman.

"I agree General," began Casey. "I would worry about Shaw as well. It looks like he is playing both sides of the fence. He managed to get Chuck's friend Morgan to join him. Morgan has been following Sarah around and taking pictures. He has also been trying to get Chuck to hire him for the security company."

"General, most of the pictures Morgan took of me are entering and leaving the ISA," added Sarah. "I wonder if he has been taking pictures of everyone leaving the building. They could have a file on everyone that works for us."

"Sarah, that's a scary thought and very possible," commented the General. "I think we need to check this situation out. Chuck, can you get someone inside?"

"I have a better idea. Let me work on the details and I'll get back with when we have a plan in place. For now I would tell Shaw that his idea is a good one and he should send you any information he has."

"I will call him and inform him that his plan is a go. That's all I have for now people have a good day."

"Chuck what if the analysts overlooked something when you ran Morgan's name?" interjected White. "My real name is not in any file anywhere. What if Shaw had Morgan use a legitimate name when he signed up, just not his own? Then they tied it into a cover name?"

"That's a different take on it. It makes sense though," Casey added in.

"Here's what I'm going to do," began Chuck. "I'm going to pay Morgan a visit when Shaw is not around. I'll check out the office and see what I can find out. If I know Morgan as well as I think I do, I bet I can get Morgan to spill some beans about the operation. I want Sarah and White to monitor from the van. Casey, I need you to work with Eve getting all the information on Shaw that we have. When I'm with Morgan, you and Eve monitor the feed as well. Anything you think might be important I want you to check out," explained Chuck.

Later that afternoon Chuck paid Morgan a visit.

**Morgan's office **_italics denote communication on the ear wigs_

"Morgan, I gave your offer some thought. It would help me make up my mind if you could prove to me you work for the CIA."

"Sure thing Chuck, did you know Sarah works for the CIA? And Casey is a member of the NSA?"

_Chuck there is no way he can know I'm CIA_

"Morgan you're out of your mind. There is no way they are agents of any kind."

"I'll prove it to you," he went over to his computer and logged on. The screen showing the CIA logo popped up and Morgan began logging in.

"Hans Solo is your login name?"

"I honor of you buddy."

"_Chuck it's Eve, Hans Solo checks out as active." _

"Now I will do a search on Sarah Walker and presto." On Morgan's screen Sarah's picture came up and a small file as well. It only listed a few missions and the mark about her being benched.

"Shit Morgan what am I going to do. Sarah is CIA."

"_Chuck is the information correct?" questioned Sarah._

"You even have her picture and files. What am I going to do?"

"_Eve again, his file is up. He is in the data banks as an agent. He has done numerous missions and has one confirmed kill. The kill is recent."_

"_Chuck we have enough for now. If he is an agent we have problems. Arrange a meet with Shaw."_

"Ok Morgan I'm in. set up a meeting with Shaw for tomorrow. I need to think about all this." Chuck left the building and headed to the ISA.

**ISA Eve's Office.**

"Eve,What do you have for us?"

"From what we can tell he's legit. He completed training a while ago and was certified by CIA Agent Daniel Shaw. He completed several non-lethal missions, thefts, planting bugs and received high marks on them. He did a black bag job two weeks ago. He eliminated a Fulcrum agent," explained Eve.

"Here's where it gets interesting, Shaw set him up using the name of a dead guy." Casey said adding to the conversation, "That's why Morgan Grimes is not in the system. They had someone good do the records for them. Eve told me Daniel couldn't hack into a paper bag with a knife."

"When he logged in to the CIA mainframe I used the remote back door that the CIA uses to keep an eye on their agents. While he was showing you the information he also sent it to this IP address," Eve followed up Casey. "It's near the location that Shaw says is where some Ring operatives work."

"Chuck," Casey began, "I hate to say this but your little buddy, whether he likes it or not, is a Ring Agent."


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: thanks for all the reviews, kind words and honest opinions, they do mean a lot. These next few wrap it all up so enjoy them. BTW for those of you who watched JAG you may have noticed some similarities in some characters and some of the names. While not an actual cross over I'm bringing some of them here. Don't this is AU, lol.**

**Caribbean Island**

Hartley was extremely distressed over a call he had just received from his daughter, Vivian. There was a problem at Volkoff Industries and he wanted some advice on how to handle it. He dialed a familiar number and waited for the other end to answer.

"Hello Hartley," answered Mary Bartowski. "What can I do for you?"

"Mary, I have a problem I need advice on. Vivian called me earlier today and has an issue back at Volkoff Industries Headquarters. My old lawyer, Riley, is trying to revive the old Volkoff industries. He wants Vivian to take my place since I was taken by the CIA. He's telling her it is her destiny to run the business like Volkoff did. She's having a hard time holding him off. I'm worried ne may do something to her, and take over the company."

"That is a big problem for Vivian and you. We worked very hard to get rid of the bad portions of Volkoff industries and make it a legitimate one," explained Mary.

"I know that Mary. Right now our R and D department is on the verge of developing cutting edge weapons for your country. If word of this gets out it may cost us our contract."

"I have someone in mind that will be able to handle this problem for you and Vivian. By the way how is she?"

"She is fine, thanks for asking. Our relationship is getting better every day. Thank you again Mary for the help you and Stephen gave me when I explained to Vivian what happened."

"It was our pleasure after what happened to you. How is that island treating you? You ready to head back to Moscow any time soon?"

"You know me better than that. It's too cold there now; I like the sun and warmth of this island. You and Stephen seemed to enjoy your time here."

"We did Hartley and we are looking forward to coming for another visit. This time we will bring our family and some from friends with us."

"The more the merrier, you know that. I'll tell Vivian to expect a visitor. Thanks again for your help."

"You're welcome Hartley. We'll be in touch." Mary turned to Stephen who was working at his desk nearby, "Well Stephen what do think we should do?"

"That's more your area of expertise. Remember I'm the brains you're the brawn of this couple."

"I'll give our man a call and have the problem taken care of. Riley will cause a lot of trouble if he can rally Volkoff's former allies along with him. With some of the new weapons Hartley is designing it could cause lots of problems for the government."

"You are right as usually. Tell him if he needs help we can assist him in any way he needs."

**ISA**

White was sitting at his girlfriend's desk waiting for her lunch hour to arrive. His phone went off and he answered it.

"White secure"

"Frost secure, I have need of your services."

"Sure thing Frost what is it?"

"We have an issue in Moscow that needs taking can of. Your contact at Volkoff industries will be Vivian."

"Hartley's daughter, I don't see a problem," White said. "You do remember I am trying to retire? Can I use this as a vacation as well? The last time we were there I didn't get a chance to see much. Plus I think Eve would like to see Moscow. Also I'm gonna fly private this time so get Beckman to arrange the re-fueling."

"You can let Chuck know what the mission is just in case something comes up and you get delayed. I'm sure that Chuck will approve of your plans, if not I will step in as his mother and get him to approve your leave. Enjoy your flight."

"Thanks Mary, I'll go talk to Chuck right now. Talk to you later." He turned to Eve and said, "Pack your bags were off to Moscow. It seems like there is a rodent infestation at Volkoff Industries that has to go away."

"I do wish you would quit doing these types of missions," she sighed. "You know they drive me nuts because you don't have back up with you."

"Well you can be my backup on this mission if you want."

"I think I can do that. With all the help we have around here I don't think it will be too much trouble."

"It should be a piece of cake," answered White. "I'm gonna talk to Vivian and she what she thinks, I'm not gonna tell her what the plan is, I'll just make the problem go away. I also plan on asking for some leave while we are there. Vivian can tell us what we can see and do in Moscow."

"Fine let's talk to Chuck and get out of here." Eve packed up her desk and went with White to tell Chuck about his new mission.

Chuck was standing with Sarah and Casey talking with some of the other agents at the ISA. They were going over the missions they had just returned from. The missions had gone well and a few more bad guys had been taken off the streets.

"Hey guys I got a call a bit ago and need to take a vacation, as in like today. I should only be gone two weeks at most."

"It's fine but is anything wrong?" asked Sarah.

"Everything is fine, the call was from Frost it seems there is a problem at VI and they need it taken care of immediately. Since I'm semi-retired, I had her throw in two weeks' vacation in place of my normal fee."

"Fee, what fee are you talking about?" asked Casey.

"He may be the best at what he does but he doesn't come cheap. He does normal missions for the same reasons you do, even some wet work. The outright black bag stuff is extra and they know it. He's not bound by the same rules as you are. He's semi-retired, the semi part being black bag stuff." Eve pointed out.

"I suppose that makes sense. Don't you feel strange getting paid for doing your duty," again questioned Casey.

"No more than you do Casey," White began his explanation, "no matter what you say they pay you to do their dirty work. I just get a lot more for doing it. There are some benefits for doing this job for thirty years. Helping Vivian is a favor for your folks, nothing more."

"We need to head out and pack," added Eve. "His plane is being fueled and prepped as we speak."

"You never told us you had a plane," stated Chuck. "We could have used it on some of our missions."

"Sorry Chuck it's a two-seater, but it's a hell of a ride. If you want to check it out you can drop us off at the airfield."

"You want to get out of the office for a few hours and drop them off?" Chuck asked Sarah.

"Why not, we can stop by and see Ellie for lunch after we drop them off."

"Casey you have the desk for the rest of the day," said Chuck. "We expect to see you at Ellie's for dinner."

"You know I can't pass up Ellie's cooking so I'll be there."

"Ok we're off see you tonight."

White was driving to the airfield when Chuck asked why they were heading away from LAX.

"We're going to get my bird. I keep her at NAS point Mugu. She needs tender loving care so I leave her in good hands." This just got a questioning look from the two other passengers in the car. Eve just shrugged her shoulders and looked out the windows. When they arrived at the flight line they saw a sleek black plane waiting on the tarmac.

"This is where we get off guys thanks for the lift."

"Not so fast White you really need to explain that," Sarah said pointing to the F-14 sitting in front of them.

"During the first Gulf War the CIA ran a lot of Black ops bombing runs over Iraq. They asked for volunteers to learn to fly the Tomcat for them. I figure it would be fun to fly so I went to flight school and when I graduated I did quite a few missions for them."

White paused for a second before going on, "After the war ended the CIA kept a few of the birds for various missions. When they got decommissioned by the Navy the CIA kept their F-14's. This is the plane I flew for around two years. It comes in handy when you need to get somewhere fast. This bird isn't the standard Tomcat the Navy had, it's special. It's been reworked from the ground up and has all the latest bells and whistles. Except for the actual airframe it's not the same bird the Navy Used. Thanks to a friend of mine I keep up my carrier qualifications. I can land this baby anywhere."

"Good to know, next time we need to attack Libya I'll keep you in mind," quipped Chuck.

"Been there and done that already, but would love to do it again," stated White. "Once this mission is over, how about I take the two of you up for a spin in her? Trust me there's nothing like it."

"I'm game but I'm not sure about Chuck," Sarah said.

"Not sure about me? Hell yes I'm in."

Less than an hour later they watched White complete his preflight checks and taxi the plane onto the runway and scream into the sky.

**Shaw's office**

Morgan took the call from Beckman telling them the mission was a go and they were to go after the ring anyway they wanted. She also informed them they would be getting a few new agents joining their team. They would need to use their current base of operations as their headquarters.

The new agents would be arriving there in the morning to meet with him. Morgan was now filled with excitement. He was going to be part of a special team to take down a rogue group of spies. He just wondered who his new teammates were going to be. The only thing that bothered him was how it would affect Chuck with him having to send Chuck's girlfriend to jail.

Shaw was almost as excited as Morgan that his plan had been approved. He was ready to get on with his plan. He really did want to take down the ring, but his main goal was to take out Agent Walker the woman who ruined his marriage.

**ISA**

Casey was running the office when the call came from Beckman that their plan was a go.

The three of you will report in to Shaw's office in the morning," Beckman began, "my hunch is Shaw is on the fence about turning completely to the ring. By having the team with him my hope is you can sway him back to our side."

"General, you believe that by sending us in he would no longer have a reason to watch the ISA?" questioned Casey.

"Correct Major, Chuck would then be able to switch his teams around," Beckman said. "Chuck phoned me from the car and said he would switch the Austin teams and analysts out with the ones currently in Burbank. It was the best he could do at the moment. Plus there is no way Chuck is letting Shaw or Morgan anywhere near the ISA."

"Understood General, I'll begin putting some plans together and making other arrangements that may be needed."

"Call Chuck and pass on the final word for me, I have a briefing to attend soon. Good luck Major," and she signed off.

The next morning found the big three meeting up outside the new headquarters of the Ring task force. Morgan and Shaw had arrived early to meet the new agents being assigned to them. The first agent to arrive was Casey. Shaw had anticipated this move from Beckman, he was her best agent. The next moved shocked Shaw when Sarah followed Casey in. with her arrival he really thought his day was looking up. It would be easy to rid the world of Walker now. Send her on a mission with bad Intel against a superior force and she would get her gold star.

The final team member to walk in the door was Chuck. Morgan was left gasping for breath after swallowing his grape down the wrong pipe, as the saying goes, when he saw his friend walk in. There was no information about Chuck in any of the data bases he had access to, so why was he here? The thing was he was now most concerned about was they had a rogue CIA Agent working with them. He would have to be careful than before.

"Good morning Agent Shaw and Agent Grimes," began Casey. It had been decided that Casey would be the lead on this mission. With Beckman now in charge of the DNI it would be logical for her to use one of her own. "I'm Agent Casey NSA, Agent Walker and Agent Bartowski CIA. General Beckman sent us to assist you in your fight against the Ring."

"Welcome aboard Agents. Take a seat and I will go over what we have so far," Shaw told them and he began his briefing. The briefing took a few hours more than Shaw expected. His new people were asking far too many questions for his liking. He had to remind himself he wasn't dealing with people like Morgan, he was dealing with professionals. They decided to break for lunch. The three new agents went to get take out for the team. While they were gone Morgan and Shaw talked over the day so far.

"Shaw, I really don't like the fact we have three rogue agents working with us. What if they send information back to their superiors?"

"Morgan it couldn't get more perfect for us. We feed them false information and they send it back. They will eventually lead us to the base they operate out of and we can take them down."

Shaw was playing Morgan like a fiddle. He had Morgan convinced they were rogue and the Ring was good. Morgan was doing most of talking to the Ring operatives he had connections to. As long as the Ring got good information on the CIA he would be in the clear. If his plan unraveled Morgan would be the perfect fall guy. After all he was the one giving up the information not him.

"I'm still not sure why Chuck comes up blank in the agent data base."

"Maybe he just made agent status. It really doesn't matter to us what he calls himself. Beckman sent them to us so we will just have to deal with it."

At the end of the day after the rest of the team had gone home for the night Morgan called his Ring handler and reported that three new agents had joined Shaw's team and they were trying to take down the Ring. He sent him all the information they had on them. The handler was pleased with the news Morgan gave him. With three loyal agents feeding Morgan information the Ring would be able to stay one step ahead of the CIA and their life just easier.

**(White is still on his mission so these events happen in the same general time frame)**

Chuck and Sarah were sitting in his office when he got a call from Beckman.

"Chuck I have a mission that needs your special skill set."

"When and where do you need me?"

"The DEA has a major drug dealer in their sights. The problem is one of their agents is undercover and fears she has been identified. She has requested immediate extraction."

"You want me to just do the extraction? Is there anything else you would like taken care of while I'm doing the extraction?"

"If possible see if you can get into the dealers computers," answered Beckman. "The Agent's cover name is, Rebecca Anderson. She may have a long list of names she has acquired over time. Your main objective is to get her out."

"Very good Ma'am, I'll contact you when I complete the extraction."

"Good luck Chuck." A few moments the e-mail came in with the agents name and picture. Sarah let out a soft gasp when she saw the picture that appeared on the screen.

"That's a friend of mine, Carina. Would you mind if I helped with the extraction?"

"I don't have a problem with you coming along as support. When I go, I go in alone."

"You have a deal. We can review the files and come up with a plan," suggested Sarah. They began reading through the reports and Chuck found his way in.

"This guy here, Joe Banner, has the same height and build as me" he said pointing to one of the surveillance photos they had. "He makes frequent trips to the house in question. I just need to talk to him to get a recording of his voice then I can make up the latex face. Once I have all that I'll move in and get your friend."

"Do you think it will be that easy?"

"Nope, but I can hope. What I need from you is a phrase that I can use to let Carina know I'm the one that's getting her out."

"I'll let you know when I come up with something." Chuck and Sarah spent a few days watching and tracking the moves of Banner. They decided Chuck would run into the mark at a local bar he frequented and record his voice. The meeting went off without a hitch. Chuck got the recording he needed and Sarah took some more pictures from the car she was waiting in. Once they had everything they needed, they had to be sure Joe would not show up during the rescue attempt. They arranged for him to be picked up by the DEA and his arrest kept under wraps until they got Carina out.

The day of the extraction finally arrived. Chuck drove up in Banner's car and parked near the door to the house. He was dressed in some of Banner's clothes they had retrieved from his house. Sarah was a block away monitoring the mission from Chuck's SUV. Along with Sarah were several other vehicles loaded with DEA personnel. Chuck walked into the house and began looking for Carina. He was approached by the man the DEA was after.

"Joe. Good to see you again. What brings you back so soon?"

"Sure is always Brian. I figured I'd have one last go at Rebecca. I think she's beginning to weaken, if you know what I mean."

"You said that the last time you were here. I don't think she wants to give you the time of day."

"We'll see. I have a plan this time. It's guaranteed to work. So where is she hiding today?"

"Most likely out by the pool, you know the way. I'll have an ice pack waiting for when she breaks you nose."

"Not gonna happen my man, I told you I have a plan." With that Chuck followed the directions Sarah was giving him to the pool. Once there he noticed a red head sun bathing on a lounge chair wearing the skimpiest bikini he had ever seen. He approached her with caution when he saw her sit up quickly.

"Hello Rebecca..." he was cut off before he could finish.

"I told you before I'm not interested. Why don't you take your sorry ass back to the rock you crawled out from under?"

"Whoa easy there woman, I'm not here to ask you out again. I just wanted to talk about a movie I saw the other day. It was CATS the musical." He stressed the word cats just enough that she would notice. "It turns out a friend of a friend of mine was in the cast of Cats." Carina gave Joe a cautious look and he returned her look with a wink.

"You know maybe I have misjudged you. Anyone that's seen Cats must have some class, even if it's just a little." Carina got up off the lounge chair and wrapped her sarong around her waist. "Give me a few minutes to change and we can get some food. Brian won't like it if I leave, even with you taking me out."

"Yeah I figured that. I told him I had a plan to get you to go out with me. He'll never believe it worked."

"There is a first time for everything. Wait here I'll be right back." True to her word Carina was back in a few minutes. She had simply pulled a black sun dress over her bikini and donned a pair of sandals. "You ready to go?"

"Lead the way Rebecca." As they made their way to the door Brian suddenly appeared and blocked their way.

"Going somewhere Rebecca?"

"I finally decided to take Joe up on his offer for lunch."

"I don't think so. Joe, guess what a little birdie told me the other day? It seems Rebecca here works for the DEA."

"You lousy Bitch," yelled Chuck and he made a move like he intended to strike Carina. At the last second he whirled and hit Brian with a right hand. He followed that with a quick left. A goon appeared and saw his boss getting his ass kicked and went to help. Carina cut him off with a vicious kick to the side of his head. She grabbed his weapon from inside his jacket and took up a defensive stance waiting for Chuck. Chuck had no trouble rendering Brian unconscious. He drew his own weapon and scanned the room for possible targets. Two more goons entered the foyer with their weapons out. Carina took out the first one at almost the same time Chuck took out his. Grabbing Carina's hand they fled the building as other men began to arrive. Chuck wasted no time in calling to Sarah for a pickup.

Sarah had been monitoring the mission and heard the mission suddenly start to go bad. She immediately called for the teams to move in. She was the first one to rush towards the house the recue was taking place in. The sound of shots being fired brought a lump to her throat. She was hoping that neither Chuck nor Carina had been shot. When she heard Chuck's voice come over the communications link she relaxed just a bit. As soon as she got to the front of the house Chuck and Carina were almost to the street. She quickly turned and lead them to the waiting SUV. They entered the SUV and when the doors closed Sarah sped off.

"Well Carina, seems like you needed me to save your ass again," this was said with a smile from Sarah.

"Sarah, what the hell are you doing here? Last I heard you and Larkin were riding the pines."

"That was over a year ago. I'll tell you more about it when we get back to the War Room."

"How did you get Joe here to switch teams anyway?"

"Carina I'd like to introduce you to Agent Bartowski, CIA." Carina turned to look at Joe and when she did, he reached behind his neck and began pulling the disguise he was wearing off. He pulled the back over his head and down the front, leaving several small pieces of latex on his skin. He then removed the voice modulator from his neck.

"Nice to meet you Carina," stated Chuck and he held out his hand.

"Well I'll be damned. I really thought it was Banner. You sounded just like him. Now I know why you brought up Cats."

"Sarah told me a bit about your time together on the CAT Squad and figured it would get your attention."

"Yeah it did. What about Brian and his crew?"

"I was listening to the rescue the entire time. As soon as I heard the shots I called for the DEA team I was waiting with to move in. They should have the situation under control by now," explained Sarah.

"When we get to base you can call your people and give them an update. For now sit back and enjoy the ride," added Chuck. It didn't take long before the three of them were sitting in the War Room going over the mission with Carina's contact at the DEA. Chuck also informed him that Carina would be taking time off.

"I'm going to head to my office and do some paperwork, if you ladies would excuse me." Chuck got up and left.

"So Sarah what's up with the hunk? Is he your partner?"

"In more ways than one, I live with him. We've been dating for a year now so its paws off Carina."

"So the great Sarah Walker has fallen in love with her partner. I'll admit he's a step up than the idiot Larkin."

"Yeah he is. He's the best thing to ever happen to me. You'll be staying with us while you're here, that's not up for debate."

White decided on taking a short layover in London to store his plane. White and Eve then caught a commercial flight to Moscow where Vivian was waiting for them with a limo. During the trip to the office Vivian asked them how their flight was. Eve was practically gushing as she recounted the trip.

"I'm telling you Vivian there is nothing like riding in the Cat. When Bill starts doing some aerial maneuvers it gets my blood pumping. We don't get up often but man what a rush when we do."

"You flew a Cat here? You'll need to explain that one to me," said Vivian.

"Cat is short for The F-14 Tomcat the Navy used to use. It's a fighter jet to be exact," filled in White.

"Flying wasn't the best part either. Bill loves to pull stunts on people. When we landed in London he called up a friend of his and asked for a ride. When his friend and his wife pulled up Bill tossed him a stuffed cat and said here are the keys to my ride. I want them back when you're done playing with it," explained Eve.

"Hammer knew right away what the stuffed cat meant and his eyes got big as saucers. His wife Mac just gave Bill a look that could stop a horse and said there was no way in hell she was getting into that deathtrap. It seems she flew with him several times and he had a few mishaps along the way," Bill continued for Eve. "I don't think we were half way to their place and he already had scheduled time off to fly."

"Now that's over with did my Dad tell you about the problem I'm having?"

"We got the information second hand from Mary. Why don't you give us the unedited version?" asked White.

"About a month ago I got a visit from my Dad's old lawyer, Riley" Vivian began. "He wants me to go back to the old ways of Volkoff Industries. He claims my Dad was brainwashed by the CIA when he was caught. He then told me I was groomed from the time I was born to run the family business. I know he is full of crap because I met my Grandmother a few weeks ago. She told me how my Dad was before he screwed up. He is the same now as he was then. Volkoff is the brainwashed person not Hartley."

"I'm glad you understand that Vivian, it will make my job easier. So what happened next?"

"Riley began to threaten me. A few times I caught people following me. I found out he has some ties to the old Soviet Block. My guess is he wants to change VI back to the way it was and give our weapons to those that still believe in the old Mother Russia way of thinking. With what we have coming out in a few months they stand a good chance of making that happen. I can't let that happen so I called Dad for some help."

"It's a good thing you did Vivian," commented Eve.

"I will need some information on him like where he lives and restaurants he frequents," added White. "Unless you want him removed in the building, then I just need the location of his office. I'll leave it up to you."

"I think his office would work best. I'm not a big fan of what you are going to do but he needs to be stopped and soon."

"Office it is then. Send me all the information and I'll take care of it. You'll know when it's done. It was nice meeting you Vivian. The next time we meet should be in a few months on a nice tropical island."

Two days later a lone man dressed in a long black leather coat entered Riley's office.

"I have a message from Alexi Volkoff. I'm looking for Riley is he around?" questioned the man.

"I'm Riley but you can't have a message from Alexi. The CIA has him locked up some place."

"He has escaped and is headed back here to take over from Vivian. He says she doesn't have the heart to be in control." Gabriel was like a cat toying with the mouse before it makes the kill.

"That's very good. I tried but I couldn't get her to see the light. What's Alexi's message?"

"You're fired." In the blink of an eye a silence pistol was raised and a single shot was fired hitting Riley in the middle of the forehead. A note was written and placed on the Riley's chest for all to see.

"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. Let this be a warning to all. Leave my daughter alone or HE will find you. Signed, Alexi Volkoff. The name of Alexi Volkoff still instilled fear in the hearts of men. This note would insure that it stayed that way.

After a few more days with Vivian they flew back to London where they spent time with Hammer and his wife. Of course the men spent most of the time boring holes in the sky while the ladies hung out. They finally ended their vacation and flew back to the naval station and dropped off the bird. It had been a good trip for both of them. When he sent in the final report Frost said she liked the part about the letter saying it would indeed strengthen the cover for Hartley.

Only time would tell if the panel's hard work would pay off in the long run. With Volkoff industries supplying their weapons and technologies and Fulcrum mostly disbanded the panel set their sights on the next big prize, the Ring. With the big three now in contact with Shaw and Morgan it would only be a matter of time before they would be able to take them down.

TBC on part 2


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: **This is the final chapter. Several missions are going to be taking place at the same time. I will do my best to keep it clear who is doing what and when it is happening. If I screw up just keep in mind they are taking place simultaneously. I hope I have kept you entertained and guessing as you read this. To all of you that commented on this thanks. It does mean a lot to a writer to see what they did right or what they did wrong. I hope you enjoy the finale as much as I did writing it.

The new team was meshing well with Shaw. Morgan became a small problem for Shaw when the new team arrived. He knew that Morgan would report all their daily activities back to the Ring and some he needed to keep away from the ring if his plan was going to work. He used his contacts to get Morgan assigned to a long term mission for the Ring well away from Burbank.

With Morgan being an Agent for the CIA he had access to some of their agent's files. His job was to recruit the remaining Fulcrum agents that had escaped the demise of Fulcrum. Morgan would find out an agents location and assigned Ring agent for the pick up or elimination of the agent in question. His status as an agent was growing within the CIA. Thanks to the hackers the Ring had and Morgan's access to the data bases, the agents that came on board were listed as dead and the ones that refused were turned in to the CIA.

The information Shaw had on the Ring allowed him to plan missions to bring in some minor Ring agents. Shaw had assigned each member of the new team a few solo missions which were executed flawlessly. They were tasked with the retrieval of those agents who were still loyal to Fulcrum but had joined the Ring. The one thing they had been able to learn so far from the agent's during questioning was the Ring were using a pyramid way of reporting their information to the Ring. For every three agents there was only one person they reported to. Three of those would report to another one. This method was used up to the top where that person reported directly to the Directors. Information was never passed across the ranks, just upward.

**ISA**

General Beckman was on the large screen talking to her team about a mission that just came up earlier that day.

"I just received a call from the diplomat in Costa Nova. He informed me that the country is in turmoil right now. A small group of dissidents is kicking up a fuss for a few months. The government of Costa Nova has been loyal to us for years. Normally we wouldn't get involved in the internal conflicts of a country that small but they have one of the largest deposits of gold in the world. The rebels feel if they take over the government they can mine all the gold they want and everyone will be rich."

"If they did that it could destabilize the global economy," Chuck supplied.

"Exactly, I need a team sent there to try and settle the unrest or take out the leaders. I have set up cover identities for White and Hansen. You should receive the package containing all the information in a few hours."

"Very Good General, we will keep you informed on the mission progress," Chuck filled in.

"Well it looks like I'm headed for fun in the sun. There is supposed to be some terrific diving spots off their coast," explained White. "I'll go tell Eve, let me know when the package arrives."

"I'll let Carina know about the mission," Sarah added in. "She should be thrilled to be going somewhere she can lounge on the beach most of the day. Plus she likes diving as well."

**Costa Nova**

Several days later the agents were unpacking their bags at the hotel they would be staying at. Despite the fact the hotel was not very big it had all the luxury of any five start hotel. One big plus was its location on the beach and was within walking distance of the restaurants and clubs. Diving trips could be arranged in the hotel lobby.

The first few days Mr. White and his associate, Ms. Hansen, did what most people on vacation would do. They rented a small catamaran and did some sailing, made plans to go diving and hit some of the local clubs. They spent time during the day wandering through the local area checking out the small shops for any little trinkets they could send home. The other reason was job related. They knew they would not hear any word of political unrest in the area next to the hotel. One sure way to get noticed by the local underground was to drop large amounts of money in a short amount of time and look for less than desirable places to hang out.

It took almost two weeks before the first contact was made. It happened as they were walking through a shop that was known for the quality of their handmade knives. Many of them were nothing more than decorative, to be hung and walls or displayed in cases, but some were fully intended for use. One item caught White's eye. It was a mechanical device that could be strapped to his forearm. By turning his wrist a certain way the blade would come out the front in a way similar to a switch blade. While he was checking it out he was approached by a man he had seen a few times before.

"With a partner as lovely as yours, you will need something better than such a small knife. Perhaps I could interest you in something a little more impressive?"

"Who says I don't have all the protection I need with me?" White replied while patting his right hip. He turned slightly and motioned for Carina to join him. "Maybe we can help you? I have heard a few things in passing as we did our shopping. Some of my associates like the idea of the little man rising to the top."

"What have you heard on the streets, as you American's say?"

"That there is money to be made if the proper investments are put in place. I think we can invest in the cause if the price is right. My former employer did like the underdog; he was very sympathetic to their causes."

"You talk in riddles my friend. Who was your former employer?"

"Mr. Volkoff," the man appeared shocked by his answer, "I'm sure you have heard of him? You know where to reach me if you want to talk about some investments," White took Carina's arm and they left the store and headed back to the hotel. All they could do now was wait until the man to get back to them.

"Well Carina, looks like we get to spend more time on the beach with those drinks you like so much."

"Beach, no way!" Carina exclaimed, "We're going to do as much diving as we can. The first couple of times were the normal places tourists go to dive. I found out where the locals go and they say it's a much better dive. Some old ship wrecks can be explored. I don't want to pass that up."

"I like the way you think Carina, I'll let you set it up." They both knew it would take a while for them to meet some of the leaders of the rebel group so they were going to make the best of it.

**ISA **(about a week after White and Carina left)

The team was gathered around the monitor in the War Room giving the General the updates she wanted.

"How is the mission in Costa Nova going?"

"Carina's report reads like a kid's summer vacation," Sarah replied with a sigh. "So far they have done a few dives and went sailing. They haven't been able to make any contact with persons of interest."

"How soon do they expect before they make contact?"

"Ma'am it will take longer than usual with the team you sent in," explained Chuck.

"Why is that Chuck? You teams are the best at what they do."

"Correct General, the important part being _what they do_. White is great if you have a known target you want removed, and Carina if you need someone to flirt their way in. Neither is the case here. Carina is not the loose cannon she was before being partnered with White. She follows his lead without question," explained Chuck.

"To quote Carina, he scares the shit out of me. She does exactly what he says and sticks to the plans he makes. I think her days of winging it are over," added Sarah.

"On to new business, the DEA and ATF have been tracking the sale of weapons to several drug cartels in Mexico. They have been buying the guns illegally here and shipping them across the border. I am going to task Shaw with bringing them down. I'll send you all the information we have in case Shaw decides to leave some information out. That's all I have, I'll contact you in a week, Beckman out."

They headed over to their official office and waited for the briefing they were expecting from Shaw. As usual Shaw was late saying he was held up in traffic. He went over his plans to bring the gun runners down. They would open a gun shop just outside of Burbank and put out information on the internet that they specialized in automatic weapons. The sites they posted on were known to be used by the criminal element. It would take about a week to get the shop fully stocked and ready to open. Casey and Chuck would be the sales persons, Sarah would be the Book keeper and he would be the supplier.

It took a few weeks before the business began to show signs of attracting the type of clientele they wanted. At first it was small quantities of hand guns, then a few orders for assault weapons. They began to make a name for themselves in the illegal gun trade. With Chucks ability to flash they also managed to apprehend some wanted criminals. It was turning out to be quite an effective operation. They had been in business about two months when they got their first big break. Chuck was manning the counter while Casey was in the back putting an order together. The door opened and a man of Hispanic descent walked in.

"I heard through some of my friends you may be able to help me out with a little business venture."

"What would you require in the way of support from us?" asked Chuck. He flashed on the man standing in front of him. Lance Diaz of the Pharaoh Cartel was wanted for arms dealing and several counts of drug trafficking.

"I am looking to acquire two hundred of your finest assault rifles, preferably of the Russian variety."

"For an order that large I will need to contact my supplier. I can arrange a meeting for later tonight at the Zodiac Lounge in Los Angles. Who should I tell him he will be meeting?"

"Tell him Mr. Diaz will be expecting him at eight. I am a busy man and if he is not on time I will take my business elsewhere," Diaz finished his speech and left the store.

"Time to have Shaw earn his money," Chuck told Casey. "I'll let him know about the meeting you get on the horn and arrange for the weapons to be delivered. I'm sure he will want to see the product before he buys."

"We have one case in the back we can send with Shaw as a sample. With luck he can set up the delivery in a week. That will give Beckman time to arrange for the weapons to arrive," Casey added on to what Chuck had finished saying.

Later that night Shaw met with Diaz and showed him the case of AK-47' that he had. The deal was struck and the delivery would take place just over the border in Mexico. The weapons would be transported by a truck driven by ATF agents. The Mexican Government would have its people there to make the arrests. They would surround the town just prior to the deal taking place and close in on the arms dealer while the transaction went down. Chuck and his team would trail the truck and Shaw in case he needed help.

The day finally came for the weapons to be delivered. Shaw was showing the Weapons to Diaz and his men when the authorities moved in. One of Diaz's men recognized one of the undercover Mexican soldiers and started to fire wildly at him. This caused the Mexican authorities to return fire and a small gun battle broke out. Shaw grabbed Diaz and dragged him to where his team was waiting. They managed to recover all the weapons and most of the money. Several men escaped during the melee and were being hunted down by the Mexican Police. The mission was a huge success with several high ranking Pharaoh Cartel members in custody. They may not have taken them down, but they did set them back in a big way.

**Costa Nova**

White and Carina had been making slow advances towards their objective. They were making their way up the ladder towards the man they believed to be the leader of the rebel cause. As it turned out, one of the Generals in the Army had a large group of men loyal to him. They were planning a hostile takeover of the country, their thought being if they controlled the military they could take over. When they took over they would increase production in the mines and pass out the gold like it was candy. The one time they had met, the General explained that the country was poor because the ruling party refused to mine more gold.

Carina and White soon figured out he was jealous of his brother who was the President of the country. He was nothing more than someone seeking power and would do anything to get it. They talked it over with the President and came up with a plan.

The president threw a large party to honor all the men in his Army with the highest ranking officers required to attend. Carina would do what she did best and get the General to a room in the presidential Palace and White would subdue him and turn him over to the president's men. The operation went perfect and with the General no longer in power the plan to take over went away. White and Carina were Honored by the Government and had to remain a few more days at the President's request.

**ISA **(after both missions)

White and Eve went into the big three's office. Several months ago the room had been enlarged to allow the placement of two more desks, one each for Casey and Sarah to use.

"Eve and I are ready to take down Shaw. Eve wants to personally handle the questioning. She has been working on her interrogation skills," began White.

"I have a few issues left to settle with my ex-husband. This will give me a chance to show him how I feel about his leaving my ass for dead," stated Eve. "I also know some weak points he has mentally that I can use against him. Bill and I will arrive at the office around noon today. When we do you guy's will need to head out to lunch."

"When you get done with him let us know and we'll have his ass hauled off for further questioning. Make sure he's alive for the most part," suggested Chuck.

"No problem boss. Eve and I will see you guys later," White and Eve departed the room to prepare for the meeting at noon.

"This afternoon should be very interesting," mulled Casey. "She has some serious issues with Shaw."

"I don't blame her either," Sarah said. "I have faith she will be able to pull it off without inflicting too much damage."

**Shaw's Office**

Chuck, Sarah and Casey had just left for lunch when the door opened and Eve walked into the office. She was dress to thrill wearing a skirt so short it barely covered anything. He top was not much better, long sleeved, tight fitting and low cut. Daniel stood up as soon as she entered his eyes raking over every inch of her body.

"Hello Miss, I'm Daniel can I help you?"

"Time will tell Danny Boy," she said as she took a seat next to his desk. Shaw bristled at being called Danny, he hated that name. "I'm here to offer you a deal. We would like you to come and work for us at the Consortium." She leaned in a little closer causing her top to open just a little bit more.

"The Consortium? I never heard of that company. What do they make?"

"Danny, don't play coy with me. We know all about your connection to the Ring and CIA. So we can play it anyway way you want."

"Ring, CIA what are you talking about Lady? I run a consulting firm here." Shaw was scrambling about now. He couldn't figure out if she was on the level or trying to bring him in.

"Danny, Danny, Danny," she purred while shaking her head. "One of my best agents recommended we bring you on board. She said you have potential. She did warn us however that you should work alone. You left your wife to die on one mission."

"My wife was an accident. She knew the risks involved in the mission. I did what any agent would have done."

"She didn't see it that way at the time, Danny Boy." This made Shaw nervous; Eve was dead as far as he knew. "Now back to our offer. You have three options you can choose from. The first is to stay where you are. Should you choose this option we will inform both the CIA and Ring about what you have been doing over the last year. You can then fend for yourself against them." Eve rose up from her chair and began to circle the room like a shark circling its prey.

"The second option is you decide which of them you want to work with and turn on the other one. Either way you have the CIA or Ring after you. The third option is you join us. The choice is yours to make. If you join us we will need you to prove your loyalty to us."

"You're not leaving me many options here are you?"

"Not really Danny, when we decide we want someone we get them or no one else does. You understand that Danny don't you?"

"What do you need me to do?"

"It's simple really," she began. "You send a message to the Ring Directors telling them that we know where they are located and we intend to kill them off one at a time," She placed a folded sheet of paper on the desk and waited for Shaw to open it. It was an official looking termination order from the CIA, on him. "This will go out if you don't join us."

"What do I need to do?" asked Shaw.

"I'm sure that just like us they have a safe place to gather if the shit hits the fan. You bet them there by telling them there has been a major leak and Ghost and his team are after them."

At the mention of Ghost, Shaw paled. He had the rumors as well during the time he spent in training. One thing he knew for sure, you don't want Ghost after you.

"I'll send out the word as soon as I can."

"Make sure they have as many of their people there as possible. Tell them they need to head to their secure location. Find out where it is and send the location to the CIA; you can use any of the fools you have working here. Yes Danny, we know about them as well. Tell the CIA where it is and when they will arrive. We will take care of both of them at the same time."

"When do you need this done by?"

"That depends on how long you want to live. If it's not done by the time I walk out that door, I place a call to my contact at the CIA. They will place the sanction on you. Sarah, Chuck and Casey are right outside; they will end you before I'm a block away. My associate outside is giving us some privacy right now." Shaw walked to his window and looked out. True to the ladies word his people were talking to a man he didn't know.

"Give me a minute to send the e-mails and close up in here. I need to inform my partner where to meet up with us."

"We will take care of Mr. Grimes for you. Just tell me where he is and I'll have him brought to you. Take all the time you need Danny Boy, we are not in that much of a hurry." She moved over next to him as he began typing the e-mails. Once the e-mails were finished he placed a call on his phone to the Ring telling them of the imminent danger they were facing.

"Now that I have done everything you have asked, can you at least tell me your name?"

"You know the game Danny; I can't tell you my name. I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you some things about you that I know and if you can guess my name, well I won't have to tell you now will I?" Eve was standing very close to Shaw by now; he could feel her breath on his cheek.

"You like the wild side of life. You're an egotistical bastard that left his wife for dead. You have played around with men as well as women. You want to reach the top but use others to get you there. Your big problem is you can no longer perform in bed and you gave me this," she held up a pendent he gave her after they were married. "Sarah Walker had nothing to do with me wanting to leave your sorry ass. You ruined your life and Morgan's life for a petty vendetta."

"Evelyn?" Shaw was shocked. He knew he was in trouble now. Eve, not looking like herself at all was standing in front of him. He recognized the look she was giving him. It was the one that said she won the argument.

"Got it in one Danny, Evelyn White CIA, to be exact, I knew I could play you like a drum you poppas ass. There is no consortium you fool. You did what you always did, tried to save your own ass. Well guess what? Your ass is ours now and when we're through with it there won't be much left." She crossed her arms across her chest and waited for his response.

"You Bitch," he screamed at her. He lunged at her screaming, "You rui…" his words were cut off as a knife was lodged in his throat held by Eve's hand. He could faintly hear her words as the life began to leave his body.

"I'm not the person I was before Danny. Have fun in Hell." She twisted the knife one last time before pulling it out as he slumped to the floor. She withdrew the knife and wiped it on his shirt before placing it back in the sheath on her arm. She walked outside to join her husband and teammates.

"It's done. All the information we need has been sent to the CIA. I have Morgan's location as well. We should be able to move in on the Ring in a week. Casey make sure that piece of shit is dead," She took Whites hand and they walked away from the scene leaving the cleanup operations to the others.

"I told you she was spending too much time practicing with White," said Casey.

"Because it was a clean effective kill?" asked Chuck.

"No, because of the comment she made on the street. She knew he was dead the second she stabbed him and twisted the knife."

"I think it was the way she told him to have fun in Hell. White uses that saying a lot," added Sarah.

It took a few days for Sarah and Carina to pinpoint Morgan's exact location in Miami. When Shaw's warning and news of his death spread throughout the Ring, agents began to leave their safe havens and move to their back up locations or the remote island if they were high up enough in the Ring. With Orion's help Morgan's computer's IP address was easily traced and led the two female agents to his location. They approached his door with their weapons out and knocked.

"Morgan, its Sarah open the door we need to talk."

Morgan and Julie were relaxing on the couch when the knocking began. Both of the jumped to their feet and drew their weapons. When they heard the summons and who was issuing it Julie lowered her weapon and said to Morgan, "I suggest we do what they ask."

"Julie are you nuts, they're the bad guys. It's our chance to stop them and break up the team."

"Morgan you don't get it do you? We turn evidence against the Ring and we can plea for a nice cell in a cushy prison."

"Morgan please open the door and save yourself further charges. We can work out a deal," added Carina.

"Agent Walker, it's Julie Banks, I'm giving up. There's no way I want to mess with you or the crazies you work with. I'm unarmed and will be on the floor if you bust in."

Morgan walked to the door and opened it. As soon as he did he was pushed face first to the ground and had his hands cuffed behind him. Julie was already on the ground like she promised and was cuffed by Carina. Soon both of them were seated on the sofa with Sarah and Carina standing in front of them. Sarah started off first.

"Julie, care to tell us about your involvement with the Ring?"

"About a year ago I was walking the streets in Vegas looking for a John. I was hooked on drugs and needed to make some quick cash. This guy, Daniel, approached me with a job offer. He would pay me ten grand a month to hang out and date his friend, Morgan. I have a kid living with my mom because of my problems. It was easy money. I just followed Morgan wherever Daniel sent him. When Morgan wanted to have sex we did. Hell it was better than being on the streets. I got clean and sent the money home to my mom."

Morgan hearing this was in total shock. His girlfriend was nothing more than a hooker.

"So all this time you've been playing me?"

"At first yeah I did. After I got to know you I started too actually like you. We could never be more than what we are but the sex was good."

"You still didn't say anything about the Ring," stated Carina.

"That's because I don't know anything. Morgan is the agent I just provide the sex for him. I helped him out one time by having sex with a guy so he could break into the guy's house. The most I can go down for is being an escort for the Ring. Morgan can verify that, so will his reports he keeps on the computer. I only carry that stupid gun because of the neighborhood we're in."

"Is that true Morgan?" asked Carina.

"I did all solo missions, she was just the backup, or so I thought. She may have called in to Shaw a few times but not a lot. Sarah we can switch sides. I'll join whatever group you're with and tell you all I know about the CIA and the Ring."

"Morgan that's the problem, we are CIA and so are you. The problem is the Ring is not part of the CIA or any branch of the Government. Chuck warned you several times but you refused to listen," Sarah stated. Morgan let the words sink in and began to feel the weight of his deeds come down on him. He thought back on all the things he had done and people he killed, all in the name of duty. He now knew that it was all a lie and he fell for it hook line and sinker.

"Oh God Sarah what am I supposed to do? I thought Shaw was telling me truth. All I wanted was for Chuck to respect me again. I was so blinded by the lies Shaw was feeding me that nothing else mattered. I talked to the Ring Director personally a few times and he told me I did well. I didn't feel like a failure anymore. I really fucked up didn't I?"

"The best you can hope for is life in jail if you co-operate. If not they will go for the death penalty. Whether or not you knew won't help you much now. What you did was commit treason. We have a plane standing by to take us to Burbank until Chuck and the Panel figure out what to do with you," Carina paused for a bit before continuing, "Julie if your story checks out we will see what kind of deal we can get you. If I had to guess you won't serve much time, but we will be keeping an eye on you."

"That's not too bad I suppose. Do you think on the way to the airport I could call my Mom and talk to my son? I call him every night and Mom will want to know what's going on."

"I think we can allow that," answered Sarah. They soon left the building and as they walked to the plane Julie was calling home. When they landed at LAX Morgan and Julie were taken into custody and carted off. Carina and Sarah returned home.

It was a bitter sweet return for Sarah as she entered the apartment. She would have to tell Chuck that they had found Morgan and he was now in custody.

"We got him Chuck and he's on his way to the interrogators. I told them to just ask questions of him and leave out the hard stuff. I know he'll give up all the information he has. He looked like a beaten man when he left us," Sarah said as she sat next to Chuck on the couch.

"I just wish he would have listened to me when I warned him. He wanted so bad to impress me that he ruined the rest of his life. In true Morgan fashion he tried the easy way out and got screwed."

"You offered him more than any friend ever would. He made the choice and now he will pay," added Sarah.

"It seems like such a waste for him to go to jail for the rest of his life for being stupid. After they do their investigation there may be some hope for him."

"Chuck, I know he's your friend but I don't see any light at the end of his tunnel."

"If all his kills were really Fulcrum agents like he claims, and the information he provided to the Ring checks out as being supplied by Shaw he may get off lighter. He did have a good record in the files we saw. They could just remove him from field status and put him somewhere he can't do any more harm."

"I doubt that will happen, but you can hope it turns out that way," countered Sarah.

"We have a big mission coming up in a few days, and it's going to be hard. There are a lot of things in my life I still want to do, and I want you to be by my side when I do them. There is one thing I can make sure happens before the mission and I plan on doing it tonight." Chuck slid off the couch and took a knee in front of Sarah. He took her left hand in his right one and slid a two carat diamond solitaire on her finger.

"I want you with me forever, from side by side taking down the bad guys, to surfing in Hawaii. Sarah will you marry me and make my life complete?"

"I would love to make your life complete the same as you make mine complete. I would love to marry you."

They took each other in their arms and kissed to seal the deal. The troubles of the day washed away with each kiss they exchanged and before long they were in the bedroom making love for the first time as an engaged couple.

**Two days later at the ISA.**

The War room had been cleared of everyone except for the main team. On separate screens were Frost, Orion and the General. A satellite map showing the Ring's island was on one of the smaller screens. The last screen was a live feed from a predator drone Orion had tasked for the job. He was the first to speak.

"Over the last few days movement to the island has been heavy. Most of the agents and elders are arriving by using the small airstrip in the photo to the left. Several large boats also arrived and are docked on the far side of the island. From what I can tell there are about five hundred people on the island and the number is growing each day." Frost was the next to go.

"On the map is the compound they are holed up in. There are five major structures inside the walls of the compound. The Larger ones are used to house the agents, the smaller one at the bottom looks to house the more important members of the ring and the building in the center looks to be the communications center. On the left is the airfield which is under heavy guard. That is our main concern. The elders could be off the island before we get the chance to shut it down." Beckman was the next to go.

"The main concern we have is the airfield like Frost pointed out, as well as the communications building. If we isolate those two areas' it improves our chances. We can't use military force on this mission but it would help. We can get the navy's help to provide transportation on and off the island."

"General, if I can make a suggestion," interrupted White.

"I think I know where this is going, but continue."

"The CIA still has in its possession several F-14's. We'll need to talk off line to set it up; I don't want to bog down the meeting."

"With the compound as it is, once we shut down the communications and airfield we should be able to move in and shut them down for good," added Frost. "It will be up to them to decide if they want to go peacefully or under fire. We need to have enough people there to assure our people's safety. We could lose a lot of good people if they defend it with all they have."

"We will land our people on the far side of the airfield after it's been taken out. We will then fan out around the walls covering the escape routes. Same rules as the Fulcrum take down," Beckman finished up.

"I will keep the drone on target and give you real time footage of the compound when you move in. Frost will join up with you in a few days to help lead the assault," added Orion.

"I guess that's all for now. I just need to get the logistics of getting our people into the area. I may have to bring the SECNAV in on this. With the Islands location we will need the support of the Navy. I don't think we can use their people but their assets we can. Frost and Orion we'll see you soon. White what's your idea?"

"The USS Kitty Hawk carrier group is within a few hundred miles of our target. With only a slight change in course we can use the Carrier group as our launch site. For the Air assault we can use the planes the CIA has at its disposal. I know a certain Captain who is itching to get back into the air. He ran some missions for the CIA when he worked for them a few years ago. He still maintains his flight status. I think we can get him on board. I'll make some calls and get back to you tomorrow."

"Sounds like it may work White. Get back to me with the answer."

"White, are you sure you can pull this off?" questioned Casey.

"I think so. Hammer and I met a long time ago before he suffered his ramp strike. I was flying black ops missions and he flew for the Navy. We've kept in contact over the years. When I went to London he took my bird up a few times," White answered.

"What about the approval from the Navy?" asked Sarah.

"That I can't answer, the General will have to sort that out. I know they supported us back in the day and I hope they do the same again."

"It's still afternoon in London maybe you could call him now and see what he says," suggested Chuck. White picked up the phone and dialed. After getting the normal run around he finally got his party.

"Rabb its White."

"White what can I do for you?"

"Interesting choice of words Hammer, I need a wing man for a small mission I need to do. One runway and one communications building need to disappear. There will be no other aircraft in the area and no air defense. We will be using Miss Kitty as out transport. We need you in a few days. Is this something that is of interest to you?"

"You know me Wraith, I'll need to clear it with the boss and I'll call you back. Just confirm no anti-aircraft weapons in the area; Mac would kill me if I punched out again. "

"Take your time I'll be here."

**Several weeks later.**

The carrier group was in place and waiting for the signal from the command personnel to issue the orders to commence flight operations. General Beckman and Captain Ingles were in the operations room waiting for word that the eight Sea Stallions were within five miles of the coast. Each Sea stallion was loaded to capacity with fifty agents on each one. The lead bird carried the Bartowski team. On the Deck of the Kitty Hawk the two black F-14s were in place on the catapults waiting for the signal to launch.

Captain Ingles knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that inside the cockpits of the black F-14s, were two of the best sticks he had ever seen. Captain Rabb still had the Missile X record and his Silver Star and two Distinguished Flying Crosses were nothing to sneeze at. What the other members of the team didn't know was Wraith's history. He knew him back in the day when he was just a young Ensign. Even just starting out he could fly circles around the most seasoned pilots he knew until Rabb came along. He could somehow sneak up on any plane he chose while air borne and this earned him the call sign, Wraith.

"Skates, how's it feel to be flying with Hammer again?" questioned White from the other waiting Tomcat.

"Like old times Wraith. He just better not drop my ass in the drink again," replied Skates. "How does it feel to be flying with your wife?"

"He better enjoy flying with me, or he won't be sleeping in the same bed with me for a while," quipped Eve.

"Easy there Blade, he needs to keep his head in the game," called Hammer.

The operations officer that was monitoring the scopes saw the Sea Stallions cross over the five mile barrier, and informed the Captain. The Captain called down to the flight deck and issued a two word command, "Shoot em."

The two F-14's were launched into the sky and headed to the island to do the only job they had. Once over the island they made their first pass over the compound. Using laser guided munitions Hammer and Skates took out large sections of the runway while Wraith and Blade took out the communications building. On the second pass they each took out a large part of the wall facing the Air field. This would allow their agents to gain entry to the compound. When the F-14's had finished their first run the Sea Stallions made their approach and began their decent. When the walls had been taken out the Sea Stallions landed and the agents began to unload. The Planes slowed and circled overhead in case they would be needed.

Chuck, Casey Frost and Sarah were in the middle of the teams that were entering through the wall. Armed with their M-4's the group began their trek to the small building. Any agents that offered resistance were cut down in short order. Sarah was jumped from behind and had to resort to hand to hand combat as she dispatched the agent that attacker her. Using her knife she stabbed him twice under the arm severing his biracial artery. He would bleed out in a few minutes and Sarah left him for dead. Chuck was forced to engage another agent in a similar manner. He chose to thrust his knife deep into the man's chest puncturing his lung and severing the carotid artery. Casey and Frost were shooting anything that got in their way. Ring agents that decided that it was better to give up would never forget the sight of the four agents that were cutting their way through the other agents with frightening ease.

Other groups of agents were entering through the gates and entrances elsewhere along the walls. The live video feed from the drone was being watched in the operations room by the General and Captain. So far the operation was going very well. One of the sailors watching the screen noticed several of the docked boats moving away from the island and alerted the Captain.

"General it's your call to make."

"Take them out Captain."

"Hammer, this is looking glass, you are clear to engage anything leaving the island."

"We are clear to engage targets leaving the Island. Skates set a course to the Boats."

"Hammer come to one three five at angles five. Blade do you copy?"

"Setting course to one three five at angles five. I have two targets on screen. Skates we'll take the one on the port side, you take the one on the starboard."

In a few minutes the pair of fighters closed in on their targets and used their guns to shred the ships and send them to the bottom of the ocean. They resumed their patrol awaiting further instructions.

Back on the island Bartowski and his team were making good time in flushing out the Ring Agents and taking them down. They finally arrived at the small building that they believed housed the Ring Elders. A small fire fight began between the team and the agents that were protecting the Elders. A bullet grazed Chuck on the arm and Sarah caught one in the chest. Her Ballistic vest stopped the round but left her out of breath for a few minutes. She knew she would have a huge bruise on her chest when she got back onboard ship.

Casey was faring much better than his two teammates. His years of combat experience were paying off. If he could just get his two partners to listen to him and not just run in with guns a blazing. Another team followed them into the build and went in the other direction. Casey took the lead after the after his partners got injured. Under Casey's guidance they made quick work of the agents they came in contact with. With the help of other teams they had the Elders in custody.

While Chuck's team was taking down the Elders many of the Ring agents were putting up a good fight. At one time they had the advantage of being in the buildings but the M203 grenade launchers made quick work of the rooms they were firing from. After the agents in the windows were taken care of they tossed tear gas into the buildings wherever they could. Small skirmishes continued for several hours after the assault began but they were few and far between.

Midway through the assault Hammer and Wraith broke of their patrol one at a time to refuel. For the two seasoned pilots it was now nothing more than a waiting game. When the feeds from the drones showed very little ground activity and they received confirmation from Chuck that the compound was under control, the General called them back. Prior to landing the two F-14's did a flyby shaking the watch deck as they screamed by terrifying most of the crew. Captain Ingles just shook his head and mumbled, "those two will never change." Minutes later they landed safely on the carrier and Taxied to their parking spaces and waited for their plane crew to secure their birds before exiting the aircraft.

When the battle was finally over they assessed the damages on the island. The task force was in good shape considering the number of Agents they went up against. Over one hundred were injured and the lost forty three men. The Ring was decimated losing over one hundred, with over two hundred injured. The injured were MEDAVACED as soon as they were able to be transported. Ellie and Devon were on the hospital ship treating patients as best they could.

The Sea Knights began shuttling the agents and their prisoners back to the ships they were based on. It was a long process but it was finally done. Down in the operations room things had returned to normal. General Beckman went to the briefing room used by the flight crews to address her team.

The flight crews, still in their flight gear, were sitting in the front row discussing the mission. Casey was grinning like an idiot with an unlit cigar between his teeth. Sarah's chest was wrapped up to hold the ice pack in place to help with the bruise she got from the round to her chest. Chuck was sporting a sling to keep his arm immobile. Frost had a bandage over her left eye protecting the stitches she received when she got hit with a piece of shrapnel.

"Well if it isn't the walking wounded. You guys look like the painting in my office. All we need is the drummer." When the words left her mouth the flight crews started to hit the side of their chairs simulating the drummer in question. The others in the room began to laugh at the air crews antics.

"I should know better by now. From the reports we have coming in it looks like the Ring is on life support. Our technicians are going over their computers for any additional information they can come up with. I will be assigning teams to go after the remaining Ring cells in the near future. For now our work here is done. I'll see you all at the ISA in a few days."

"General since I'm already here and my bird is here, the Captain suggested I renew my Qualls. It shouldn't take more than a few days at most," stated White.

"Who are you trying to kid Agent White? You and Captain Rabb just want to play with your toys for a few more days."

"General can you blame them?" questioned Skates. "Hammer's been land locked for years and so has Wraith."

"Very well White, I expect you and Eve a few days after we return. I'll push the meeting to the right a few days. All of you did a great job today. Frost let's get off this floating city and back on dry land. There is a reason I chose the Air Force over the Navy. This is one of them." Frost followed the General out of the room leaving the others behind.

"Anyone up for a joy ride before you head back?" asked White. Each person in the room decided to stay one extra day and get at least one ride before they headed back.

**Secure location**

The panel met several days before the team returned home from the mission.

"When should we tell them about the Cartel?" Frost began.

"Let them be for a while. We have them under control for now but if they become a problem we can call on them," answered Smith.

"Frost you need help plan a wedding for your son. Sarah and Chuck are good agents but they don't have a clue about planning a wedding," Beckman added in.

"I agree with Smith and the General. We can sit tight for a while. From what I can tell at the present rate the Cartel won't try to take power for at least a year. With the agents we have on them now their time line has been slowed way down."

"It's agreed then we wait."

The one thing the Panel knew for sure was that one day the team of Chuck, Sarah, Casey and the ISA would be called on to defend the country against an enemy that the average person would never know about.

**That's all folks!**

**AN: **I would like to thank everyone that stuck with this story. I enjoyed each and every review, good or bad. This story came about while suffering writer block on Futures Past and was only supposed to be several chapters long. Again thank you guys for all the reviews and taking the time out of your lives to read this story.


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